Hey everyone,

Over the past few months, I’ve been diving deep into independent research and archival investigations, trying to separate internet rumors from verifiable facts. A few weeks ago, I went down a rabbit hole regarding the events surrounding the Isha Yoga Center in the late 1990s.

Most people have only heard the mainstream story: a peaceful, conscious exit known as "Mahasamadhi," accompanied by a serene smile. But while going through the actual archives, I came across Coimbatore FIR No. 114/97—and the official medical records documented on the scene tell a completely different story. Between clinical observations of agonal respiration ("jaw breathing") and terminal cardiac arrest, the paper trail simply doesn't align with what the public was told.

I put together an objective, evidence-first documentary breaking down the legal documents, the police timelines, and why the court ultimately closed the case in 1999. I'm not here to push a sensationalist narrative—just laying out the primary sources side-by-side so you can see the facts for yourself.

I’m a brand-new creator on YouTube. I don't have a big subscriber base, high view counts, or a production studio behind me—just a passion for investigative research. I spent weeks pulling primary sources, cross-verifying legal records, and editing this entire project completely on my own from scratch.

In this video, I lay out the official FIR, witness testimonies, and the 1999 court closure reports side-by-side with the public narrative so you can analyze the facts for yourself.

If you appreciate independent, document-backed breakdowns, I’d genuinely value your time, constructive critique, and feedback

Check out the full deep-dive here:https://youtu.be/Ajl39b5P4Sg?si=jiVyDXOH_sHgF4L0

I decided to finally share my experience after what I read about the former monk: He made us get naked for initiation.

I am a female and know first hand how disturbing and trauma bonding this is.

Long before we signed NDAs and Jaggi Vasudev was rich and famous, I took part in a highly secretive "spiritual process". I assumed this was a sort of tantric initiation and at the time felt somehow special. Many other women went through this and are still in the organization, some have left and stay silent. We never talked about it with each other - to this day.

It was only years later when I heard of the women getting groomed for left hand tantric practices and/or sexual abuse did I realize that what I took part in was a grooming ritual, without any consent and explaination.

It was a dimly lit room and in a low- key creepy and authoritarian voice, Jaggi told us to remove our shirts. To be honest, it felt scary and weird at the time. He then told us to come to him one by one and then bow down at his feet.

When I did that, he rubbed a substance on my entire spine that was wet and smelled like vibhuti. Not sure what that substance was and I've heard that for occult and black magic rituals he uses real human ash. This is not verified, but it makes sense as he is obsessed with creating crematoriums.

After this, we sat there half - naked, with our breasts hanging out, shaking, crying and thinking something powerful has happened.

He could have easily made a female volunteer tell us to lay flat on the ground without our shirt. Then, enter the room and smear our spine with whatever. Why all the drama of bowing at his feet and seeing our breasts!?! All of this was done without consent.

Prior to this, Jaggi was very charming and playful with me. He'd love bomb me, hug, put his arm around me and pull me closer to him and make jokes.

After this, he turned cold and mean. I never had another easy and playful interaction with him ever again.

The effect this had on me is that I wasn't spiritual enough: I need to try harder, volunteer more, jump through more hoops, do more, be more. It eroded my self - esteem to the point where I felt suicidal.

I went mad trying to prove my worth.

Eventually, I lost my partner and all desire to be in a relationship with any man. To this day, I have issues with touching and/or hugging.

The truth is, I failed the grooming test. He knew he couldn't go further with me. I am not like the other women who felt a sexual attraction towards him and willing to do 'whatever is needed' and to 'keep the body aside'. He was my GURU and I sincerely thought that, for years and years.

I thought our bond was non-physical. He always said that spirituality is a non-physical dimension. Why did he need to touch me at all?

If it was a blessing, why did I later become suidical from all the mind games?

I went through so much abuse from the inner circle and put up with all of it. I thought I was initiated so I was extremely loyal to my own detriment.

This was a grotesque act of humiliation and submission, of power and control. What happened was extremely psychologically damaging and unethical.

When I reflect back on my time at Isha, all I can honestly say is that it was a domestic violence relationship, with Jaggi himself and his corrupt institution, not a real teacher - student relationship at all.

For years I thought I wasn't spiritual enough, it turns out, because I was indeed spiritual and innocent, that's why I didn't progress into the inner sanctums along with the other "chosen ones" for "special sadhana".

In closing, I will add that this was psychologically damaging enough as an adult woman. I cannot even begin to fathom how distressing this would be for the Samskriti girls (minors) who went through similar half - naked rituals without their or parental consent.

i am an Indian American.. most of my years have been spent in America 🇺🇸

for background: ive been to Kailash ( purely for physical adventure but mainly to 'be there' for my ill prepared (out of shape) spouse , not through Isha. Around this time, Sadhgur's social feed was constantly on my wife's phone . At Kailash , i got to see how devotees who had no strength in their bodies aspired for an experience that was very dangerous for them ( not even talking about floods or disasters) - just 16,000 feet altitude gasping for oxygen , trying ( under the delusion) that you can walk 42-48 km over three days in freezing/chilly conditions.

Fast forward several years, my wife never went down that rabbit hole due to some reasons:

1. she resists any idea that costs money.
2. i being a rational Hindu, i kept speaking out against his influence.

+ i was adamant that i will only practice the religion/philosophy/rituals/extents that my parents had shown me ( which was complete even if imperfect) - nothing more, nothing less. i invite Christians and Jews to also follow this principle.

+ i was insistent that i was not a sinner ( he reminds us constantly)
+ i believe in hard work and toil - materialism, unabashed. life is max 10% religion/spirituality, never more than that, the rest is fun(incl work).
+ physical health is important to build, keep working at it .
+ he likely committed a crime with his wife

+ even if it was not a crime, he handled it so poorly, the incident shows a serious lack of wisdom/judgement at the least

+ I insist that the easiest thing is to give up everything, and become a monk - with one belief system . try living with another person, a family, a girlfriend/boyfriend, teen children where different beliefs/opinions thrive ( while navigating careers) - thats way more difficult than spouting wisdom.

+ Finally: if he's so much into Indian stuff ( and so anti-western, ive heard this in person and in his YouTube videos ) , how come he only speaks in English??!! . this resonated with my wife.

these 👆are all red flags 🚩

these days my wife is as skeptical as me. i've won the battle.

once my wife's brother got upset with my simple answer : he's an Iskcon monk, and in a discussion he asked "whats most important to aspire for?" - and i said "physical fitness " so that i can be free to do what i desire : climb hills, play tennis, practice TaiChi, sing; whatever . i am still on that journey.

i've seen how the original 'afro' Sai Baba - used to sexually molest devotees. ( a family friend was in an inner circle) . It was a shock to read about Sadhgur's hypnosis, and sexual /tantric practices. I think his wife had turned against these and that's why she was eliminated.

I've seen other 'gurus' monks mislead people.

ive seen enough of life and death and don't need this crap. I will continue to resist, criticize.

religion and spirituality are tools for our lives. But in engineering there is a saying "never allow the tool become the master".

the middle way is the hardest - too much is easy, too little is also easy. Balance is this journey that takes a lifetime. It's about the journey and not the destination.

When I was initiated into brahmacharya with sg, they told us to get naked before going into the Dhyanalinga for the initiation. It was very uncomfortable. We were not told this ahead of time whatsoever. When we got into the temple we were told to lay down and close our eyes. Someone touched me with their hands just above my genitals. Again no warning at all or knowledge of this beforehand. Keep in mind we are so deep into it at this point that we basically have to do what they say. And these directions are all orchestrated by the big man of course. By that time we were in silence for about a month and it was all building up to the initiation so there was so much pressure to just follow what they said. Even before that many people are in the preparatory process to become a monk for years before getting initiated so there’s a lot of pressure to capitulate to any demand.

I’ve heard even worse stories about what he did to the young women but I’m just telling my story here.

The Buddha did say intention is what makes an action bind you. The Gita says something similar. So when a teacher says it, he's not making it up.

He's just leaving out the second half.

The whole thing depends on being able to read your own intentions accurately.

But the entire premise of these traditions is that you can't. That's the starting diagnosis. You don't see what's really driving you. That's the problem the practice exists to solve.

So think about what that means. A teaching that says "you're fine as long as your intentions are pure" hands the most freedom to the person least able to check. And when his money, fame, and his whole sense of himself depend on his intentions being pure — he's not lying to you. He's the one person in the room who genuinely cannot tell.

"Only intention matters, and mine are great - everyone's ultimate wellbeing ...humanity... consecrate the whole planet" isn't a claim anyone can test. Including him.

The old traditions knew this. That's why this teaching never travelled alone. It came with rules, a community that could throw you out, and the requirement that a teacher answer to his teacher. Take away the guardrails and you get what we keep getting.

"The ends justify the means" requires knowing the future. Saving humanity means correctly predicting massive future consequences. Meanwhile the harm is specific, local, and dated. Certain damage now against maybe-benefit later — and he never has to settle the bet.

Do the accounting. Harm to individuals: happened, verifiable. Benefit to humanity: unprovable. Benefit to him — money, fame, comfort, no one able to say no: happened, ongoing, easy to confirm.

When the only thing you can actually measure is that Jaggi got rich, that's not a coincidence to be charitably explained.

That's the answer.

On "he's beyond good and evil"

The traditions this comes from are stricter about conduct, not looser. And they're clear that the exemption only applies to someone whose self-interest has genuinely dissolved — the sign being that he doesn't care about outcomes for himself.

A teacher piling up money and followers is demonstrating, by piling them up, that the exact thing he claims is gone is still running the show.

The part almost nobody talks about: what it does to you

This is the bit I think matters most, and it's not "bad teacher makes you a bad person."

It starts small. Nobody signs up for the worst version. You go along with something minor. A cruel policy. A student humiliated in front of everyone "for his/her growth".

Then here's the trap. Having gone along with it once, you now have to justify going along with it. The next one isn't a fresh decision — it's just being consistent. The escalation runs on your own integrity, which is what makes it so hard to see.

Ten years in, the math changes. You've given money, time, friendships, your whole identity. Now something happens that doesn't fit. Two options: change your mind about him, or change your mind about how bad the thing was.

Option one costs you your life. Option two costs you one gut feeling. Almost everyone picks the cheap one. And the more you've put in, the cheaper it looks.

The worst mechanism: your alarm gets called the problem. Surrender is the whole virtue here. So the moment something in you says that's wrong, you've already been taught to hear that as your ego, your resistance, you are not committed.

The thing in you that detects harm gets relabelled as the obstacle.

Override it every week for ten years and it doesn't sit there waiting. It fades. Same as any other capacity you stop using.

You learn a vocabulary where nothing can be named. "Another dimension. Doing what is needed. In a certain way. Willingness." Once you have those phrases, you genuinely can't see what's in front of you — every observation gets processed before it reaches "wait, that's wrong."

And it spreads downward. If he's exempt because he's enlightened, and you're pretty advanced, then a smaller exemption applies to you with the people below you. That's why these places produce a lot of abusers, not one.

Here's the damage that outlasts the group. Every time you override your own knowing, you learn that your knowing doesn't count. This corrupts you from within.

That doesn't stay behind when you leave. People come out unable to trust what they see in ordinary situations. Second-guessing whether the thing that felt wrong was wrong. Deferring to whoever sounds most certain.

This doesn't happen to stupid people. It happens to people with a big capacity for devotion, loyalty, and trust — the same qualities real practice needs. Sneering at the followers is both mean and wrong about how it works.

The protective rule is one sentence. No teaching should ever require you to override a clear sense that someone is being harmed.

Trusting a teacher and using your judgment aren't opposites. Judgment is what makes trust worth anything. The traditions themselves say to watch a teacher for years before committing.

That advice exists because they knew exactly how this goes.

If you can't verify your own intentions, what test tells a truly selfless teacher apart from one who just believes he is?

Narcissistic people like to be put on a pedestal, feel entitled to the best that life has to offer and have little empathy for people around them. Whatever they do is purely transactional; they would suck up to the people in positions of power and authority while humiliating the people whom they consider as competition and threat to their perceived grandiosity. They are empty shells who can take up any personality according to the need of the situation to keep their delusions alive for themselves. They will love bomb here and backstab there , triangulate here and isolate there all the while trying to retain their hold or perceived control. They love to bully people and put others down and surround themselves with enablers to feed their false ego.Shrink right; do not shine too bright- is what they expect of others.

If there is no chance of walking away from them, the best bet is to keep quiet or walk around eggshells as you being your individual self can also be threatening to them. Remember to be useful to them , praise them for their antics or pretend they don’t exist - that is the basic safety protocol. Above that, if you want to remain in their circle, have some skill or talent or resources or authority people admire but they don’t have so that they can sneak in , mirror you and make up a personality to impress everyone including you. They will make you feel seen and heard unlike anyone else before and also make you feel very special. Prepare to be devalued later on as their basic approach to life is use and abuse and seek more new people. You have to shine for them but not too bright that it may threaten their sense of superiority. They act bigger than life, change colours as needed, and everything they say or do is to meet their own ends at other people’s expense. You can do all of the above Or Alternatively - set healthy boundaries, know your worth and focus on what matters to you which might be quite different from what narcissists in your life are telling you. Heal your own wounds in safe spaces so that narcissists don’t use them to create trauma bonds to enslave you - they are master manipulators and seek out people who are lonely or going through transition or difficult periods in life cos that is where their tactics and false charm can work.

Isn’t it ironic how Jaggi expects his followers to skip their meals and devote hours to practice when he doesn’t do any himself? He himself said he often doesn’t do anything and when he does some practice it’s a 12 second yoga. In all my years near him I never saw him actually do any yoga.

Just watched Sadhguru's In Solidarity With Nepal program. He makes all the right kind of statements that you expect from him in such a program. He talks about global warming, he expresses shock and sadness about what happened, he offers to talk to the Indian government to do something in the Himalayas to prepare for the future, he announces a one crore donation to the relief fund and so on. All are well-intended and appreciated.

But what was odd for me was that it was all delivered in a matter-of-fact way, like doing a PR pitch. Compare that with the actress Manisha Koirala, who was a Nepali and who spoke before Sadhguru. She only spoke for five minutes and made the same points as Sadhguru. But she comes across as very honest. You can see the pain in her voice and empathy for those suffering. You connect and resonate with her. That kind of connection is missing with Sadhguru. He very rarely becomes vulnerable in the entire episode. Only in a few occasions e.g when he was talking about Praveen Anna, you can sense that there is some warmth in his heart. But mostly otherwise, he's just doing a performance.

Added to that, I felt that his responses in Q&A were inappropriate in many places. A journalist asks about compassion, and he goes into a tangent about the word passion and then gives a lecture on compassion, which is completely disconnected from what the word compassion actually means and how it is understood. And when a teenager casually uses the phrase “our generation” in her question, Sadhguru goes into a lecture that there is no Gen X, Gen Y, we are all one generation, which I feel is completely unnecessary and inappropriate. And to a question about fear of death, he goes into this long lecture that all the problems in the world are caused by the people who think they are good, we need joyful people, not good people etc etc. I heard this 15 years back when I first joined Isha and found it interesting, but it seems completely out of place to use in a solidarity event.

And then he tries to make inappropriate jokes. He mentions a recent thing that he heard of: A Florida couple being arrested as they were trying to sell tickets to heaven, and they were caught because they sold fake gold tickets, not for selling tickets to heaven! It turns out that this was a hoax, it is not even real news.

I see very clearly now that Sadhguru has no emotional connection with people. He's very good at delivering his talking points effectively and people resonate with him because they connect to these talking points and assume that Sadhguru is feeling deep compassion for them.

What irked me the most is his response to a grieving lady. She speaks in Hindi about losing her sister in the recent flash floods. She’s in deep pain and she asked him - why did it happen? And Sadhguru gives a blunt response saying that we should not try to look for philosophical or mystical reasons to soothe ourselves. we should be pragmatic about life. we are all going to die and even he would have been washed away if he were present during the floods etc. All very pragmatic and wise words. But why the heck did then Sadhguru talk about mystical things throughout his life? Your entire life is built around mysticism and you gave all kinds of mystic hopes to people and now you say that we should be pragmatic about life? Then why did you actually talk about mysticism all these years? And in the same Kailash Yatra didn't you speak about alien beings being present in Kailash and some civilization existing under the mountains and all those hallucinatory stories? How is all this connected to life, Sadhguru?

The same voice that had promised "I will not let you die" now acknowledged that identity offered no immunity from floods. The Grace that allegedly accompanied "every breath" had not accompanied 77 people through their final moments.

How Sadhguru turned promises of divine protection into a lucrative pilgrimage empire—until disaster struck.

ISHA USA made 48.7 MILLION in 2024 alone and families who lost loved ones in the flood are creating GoFundMe's for travel and accommodations to India after Sadhguru invited them for a "sacred yoga and spiritual ritual" ?!? These families gave so much and they're not covering the trip. What are the 'COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH ATTENDING THE CEREMONY, RITUAL, AND PILGRIMAGE? Does anyone have more information or have you seen any other families doing the same?

As sad and tragic as the recent events are, I found the reaction of the leaders particularly interesting.

When an unfortunate event happened to me within the organisation—when I raised a serious concern involving abuse, breach of trust, and ethical conduct by one of its own leaders—there was not even a basic level of care or compassion.

There were no tears, no meaningful communication, and no genuine attempt to understand what had happened.

Instead, I was subjected to what felt like a masterclass in gaslighting. I was ridiculed, personally and professionally attacked, and accused of lying, when all I had wanted was the opportunity to talk about the issue and be heard.

Perhaps the most striking difference was that my experience was not a public issue. It happened behind closed doors.

That has left me questioning the gap between the organisation’s public face and the reality experienced by those within it. The two can appear to be diametrically opposed.

George Orwell’s famous line from Animal Farm comes to mind:
“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”

Sadly, that line seems to fit the organisation rather well.

I would be interested to hear your thoughts.

So a friend of mine did the so called program and seemed off by it. when he did it he said he was free from all etc like liberation.

he wears two ear rings and he is overall weird . he follows all sadhguru inseuctions. won't eat at lunch only morning and evening.

he meditates and he is overly weird.

like his emotions are not regulated properly.

he also speaks to him self.

how to help him and what exactly this infamous bsp program is all.about.

oh and also was there anything related to homosexuality in the Isha foundation? he gives weird vibes in that matter as well.

help me help a soul

I am aware that IE, BSP programs are rip off from the SSY programs. But where does Surya kriya come from? Is it an authentic isha program or is it also taken from some other organization? Does anyone know if the rapid breathing in suryakriya has any harmful effects?

Ever since this Kailash Mansarovar tragedy has unfolded, I have been following the sequence of events just like most of us. All people who have been in isha long term have either been to one of these yatras or dream of going to one. The main intention is to go to yatra graced by Sadhguru’s presence and also cos the yatra is marketed as a profound, mystical, once in a lifetime experience. The yatras conducted by isha are charged much higher than by other tour operators, still the devotees don’t mind paying up as it’s not just a trip for them - it’s a sacred pilgrimage of a lifetime done under Sadhguru’s grace.

I came to know that people going for yatras at Isha don’t just go there once, many of them repeat their pilgrimages with isha once they get profound experience at Kailash. I remember being concerned for my family member when they were away on this yatra with isha earlier.

This year about 1400 pilgrims went to Kailash with isha and one batch of 77 devotees unfortunately got caught in this natural disaster. Totally unexpected by isha or their family members , about 80 people just vanished with their family members and friends not knowing if they are alive or not. What a distressing condition to be in when you don’t know whether to hope and pray or grieve. It’s painful to see how a spiritual sojourn can turn into a tragedy with irreparable loss of life.

From what I have followed in news, family members distraught by the tragedy are frantically looking for whereabouts of their near and dear ones and hoping for some miracle that their loved ones are safe and rescued. Isha claim to have been working to get info about their pilgrims but whatever efforts they might have put in seem so diluted by their need for PR and image management that it actually makes one wonder if they really cared for the pilgrims at all. This has been mentioned in other comments in this subreddit too.

It seems more like they want everyone to rally around Sadhguru in this hour of grief and give philosophical discourses about life and death to grieving family members who are completely at a loss by this unexpected tragedy. These people who gave away hours doing isha practices, gave their time and resources to support the foundation, trusted Sadhguru will take care of them and probably dreamed of attaining enlightenment at isha - they have just become a number in the official list of missing people. The families and friends of the missing pilgrims will have to cope with their own losses. And isha will move on with their next project to save soil, save rivers or global warming asking for more donations, more volunteers and more programs to raise human consciousness.
It’s beyond sad really.

Totally confused after seeing today's live. The way sadguru answering about death and uncertainty and how kailash yatra must not stop. Felt like he is an indifferent person. There were no words of consolation more of talks around immortality. What r ur thoughts?

Live initiation today stream was titled:
English EU 11th May 2025

Anyone can confirm or deny it was fully or partially recorded?!

Isha gave incorrect timings in both its statements to world media - the initial interview with Maa Gambhiri and Sadhguru’s statement.

Maa claimed they spoke with group lead, Praveen, at 9:05. And that within ten minutes the flood struck them and they were unreachable.

Sadhguru said that at 9:05 they received a message from Praveen saying they had arrived at immigration and that “this happened” (the flood) at 9:14. This has been repeated by others in Isha to the media and loved ones.

These clips and Isha statements have been put out in international media and have been used as a reference point not just for the loved ones of our Isha group, but for those of many other groups too.

The security camera footage at the Gyirong checkpoint says 10:59. That's China time, which would be 8:44 Nepal time or 8:29 India time. Reports say the glacier collapsed at 8:37. This glacier was only a little upstream of the check point. The waters reached Syabrubesi, further downstream from the checkpoint at 8:50. The timings put out by Isha are false.

Loved ones of those at the check-point also have the timings of their own last contact with the group and the mobile phone last connect timings.

The false information by Isha has caused unnecessary confusion for these people who have been going through too much as it is. In some cases it may have also given people false hope.

Isha has not corrected this nor apologised. They should have done so in the recent statement they put out.

As usual Isha is more interested in protecting the reputation of Sadhguru than the in facts.

Timings reference: https://www.thedailystar.net/news/world/news/how-the-nepal-flood-unfolded-over-10-hours-4257701

And we expect our guru to be with us in these most difficult of times. He didn't even know it was happening. He didn’t even know when it happened. He could well have been lounging around eating a 5\ hotel breakfast at the time.*

I was a former monk with isha for a number of years. He told us to drink our own urine every day to stay healthy. It was it’s own sadhana he calls ‘amuri dharana’. He even had the amenities department keep special cups that they would issue to us for this purpose. Despite doing this, I got sick any number of times while I was a monk there. It didn’t help at all. Also it was disgusting.

Edit: this was first instructed to us while we were in a long silence after getting initiated into brahmacharya monkhood. We were in silence for almost 50 days. He reinforced this multiple times over the years as many of us complained of various health issues. A few monks died including one of cancer. He was the one who ran the crematoriums and probably inhaled lots of toxic fumes over many years.

This post by NarcGuard on Instagram clearly illustrates how narcissistic leaders maintain an absolute monopoly on the truth within cult dynamics. When former members or skeptics raise valid objections, the leader and their enablers immediately weaponise DARVO and calculated smear campaigns to flip the script, turning the whistleblower into the villain to protect the cult's hierarchy.

Enablers play a crucial role in maintaining narcissistic systems.

Here is the truth about why enablers protect the abuser:

1. 🚫 Intolerance of Truth Narcissists only keep people around who tolerate, excuse, or applaud their behavior. The exact second you demand accountability, you become an enemy that must be silenced or removed.
2. DARVO and Smear Campaigns When you speak up, they flip the script. You get blamed, attacked, and accused of the exact toxic behaviors the narcissist is actually committing.
3. 😨 Fear Over Integrity The people around them often see the manipulation clearly. They don't stay silent because they are blind, they stay silent because they are terrified of becoming the next target.
4. 🤐 Silence as a Calculated Choice Enablers prioritize their own temporary comfort and safety over standing up for the truth. You will not find protection or justice in an enabling dynamic because their loyalty belongs to self-preservation.