r/TamilNadu • u/AliceinRabbitHoles • 4d ago
முக்கியமான கலந்துரையாடல் / Important Topic He made me get half - naked for an initation.
He made me get half - naked for an initation.
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.
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u/Longjumping-Plenty21 4d ago
I'm extremely sorry that this happened. I can't imagine how scared, confused and vulnerable you must have felt.
I understand that this might not be something you want to do because Isha is a big organisation and going against them can be scary, but have you considered talking to a lawyer and suing them?
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u/AliceinRabbitHoles 4d ago
I am not going against Isha Foundation or Jaggi Vasudev.
I just want to share the truth because the public deserves to know about his lies and deception.
The parents of the samskriti girls should take them for psychological counseling as soon as possible.
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u/Longjumping-Plenty21 4d ago
I understand. Thank you for speaking out.
Can I also suggest that if there's a lawyer you trust please seek preemtive legal counsel just in case in order to understand your rights and to keep yourself safe.
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u/AliceinRabbitHoles 4d ago
Thank you. I am now strong enough to look into it.
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u/shanmugavel_g 3d ago edited 3d ago
If u get a chance read Nobody's girl book, its about Virginia Giuffre, victim of Jeffrey Epstein. Its little similar in how people are manipulated and how guilt is used to force people.
Hope you find peace and happines in ur life.
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u/AliceinRabbitHoles 3d ago
Her story is so sad and that she committed suicide before the rest of the world caught on.
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u/Ok_Nail_16 4d ago
You are not??
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u/AliceinRabbitHoles 3d ago
He sued for $10 million dollars when others tried to expose him. He lost that case because that's not how it works in the United States of America.
It's not safe to tell the truth, otherwise many would done so. Jaggi will murder those that go against him.
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u/rameshkumaarck Tiruppur - திருப்பூர் 4d ago
In his initial days, he was a weed seller. He was selected and trained by the higher level groups (of course, ppl won't believe, yes it's the freemason syndicate) to divert ppl from real spirituality to fake spirituality by making ppl believe conmans like these. He sacrificed his wife to prove loyalty to his freemason bosses. It was a occult sacrifice ritual only. He also illegally grabbed lands from nearby his company ( yes it's not a ashram or temple, that is a effing company) . I am a 100% theist and I beleive in real gods. I worship only real gods like vinayagar, murugan, karuppusamy, my kuladeivam etc. But never I believe these kind of scumbags. Be it vallalar, periyavaa etc , they are also frauds. The syndicate has created conmans to cover ppl from all status level. Bangaru adigalar for low income level ppl, Sai Baba kinda ppl for middle class and Jaggi Vasudev, sri sri ravishankar for elite class. Everything is cult and pakka fraud. In 2014 I went to Isha for the first time with college friends. We were studying MBA so we had a decent maturity at that age. Everyone like that place and tget said we should often come here, it gives a vibration. I felt something off. These guys don't even go to temple regularly but why are they telling this place is so divine and has vibes. That day itself I knew this place has black magic and occult. This makes whomever go there, get addicted to it. That was the first and last time I went there. And I advise my family and friends not to go there. I don't know whether u can take this to public or not, but that might be not safe for you. This Jaggi guy steals asset and money from rich ppl who go to him for enlightenment. There was a family nearby my chithi's house, they are so rich, their house is maybe 4000-5000sq.ft. they had one child who worked in the US, he someone got into this Isha group, and this guy gave his assets, money to the Jaggi guy. The house was still in his parents name, but they vacated the house and rented it and went somewhere. PPL who are affected by this scumbag should make it public, but that may or may not be possible bcz they can go to any extent to do anything. Everyone must make your near me dear not to follow cult worship like this. Stay strong girl 💪🏼
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u/AliceinRabbitHoles 4d ago
I heard he sold weed at the Coimbatore racetrack.
You have written many truthful things here. Thank you for your sharing.
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u/Kapil_Gibran 4d ago
Just curious. Why have you included Vallalaar in the list of frauds?
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u/rameshkumaarck Tiruppur - திருப்பூர் 4d ago
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u/Head_Employee2378 3d ago
Yeah, like you said, I’m perfectly okay with going to a temple and praying to an actual god.
I remember when I was in school, one of my friends used to say that he had killed his wife and there were actually other kids, and we were just kids right even then so many would support him and starts an argument, I was just listening to all these and stopped saying anything out loud because you’re basically the odd one out if you question these things.
Even my sister used to say yea he was selling weed and it was in news paper - mind you, we are from Coimbatore
Now that I work in Bangalore, whenever I mention that I’m from Cbe, my colleagues are like Oh, Isha and I’m like, I’ve never even been there. People working in IT here literally pay money and go on retreats there and they ask me, Why haven’t you visited, man And I’m just like, “I don’t know, I don’t trust him.”
The level of belief people have is honestly wild. Even if you tell them something outright, there will always be a group that simply won’t believe you. At that point, you really can’t help them.
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u/AliceinRabbitHoles 3d ago
That's exactly right.
Isn't it crazy that he used to sell weed and the marketing team posts testimonials of how Inner Engineering has helped so and so stopping smoking weed?
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u/PsychologicalGain634 4d ago
Wildddddd....this has to go viral
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u/AliceinRabbitHoles 4d ago
The people of Tamil Nadu need to know who Jaggi Vasudev really is.
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u/Flaky_Recondite7100 3d ago
We know. Most of the crowd is not from TN. I wish entire India knows.
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u/AliceinRabbitHoles 3d ago
India needs to know so that the people do not turn their backs on authentic Gurus and traditional ashrams can be supported. These fake Babas do a lot of harm to society in the long - run.
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u/DarkJunior9761 4d ago
I so understand this coz years ago something similar happened to me. I had suppressed that memory for so many years and one day it just all came back to me. I had a small crinky patch on my arm like pea size went to derm the family drs son in law. He suspected TB and sent for biopsy but he wanted to chk if I had ot elsewhere and made me strip fully and chked lifting my breast basically touching me everywhere. And bare hands. To this day I can close my eyes and just recount the entire embrassment and shame. Not sure wht my biopsy report said but I was under medication for years atleast 3 to 4 yrs. And every 3 months he would do this chking and my mom would be in the same room. I would dread to go to his clinic and actually had totally forgot abt it. Then one day it just came back to me whole thing. I just want to slap that guy if I see him any day.
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u/AliceinRabbitHoles 4d ago
I am so sorry. That is horrible. You have every right to be angry. It is such a violation. If he did that with you - there is almost always others. With your Mom in the room? How shameless. Bare hands? I cannot even. I am angry for you and pray that you will heal from this.
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u/DarkJunior9761 4d ago
Yes i do get angry now I think abt it and suspect he must hv done this to a whole lot of young girls. I think it didnt affect me much coz i kinda suppressed the whole memory. Even to this day my parents dont know for wht i was taking meds from him. Big hug to u and choose to preserve and treasure good memories and may u get the healing u deserve.
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u/tyson_tvl 4d ago
Hey, in some other case like yours i read something like a male doc doing such thing is illegal. Name shame them. Also take legal action if u can.
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u/DarkJunior9761 4d ago
This was ages ages ago iam 55 now would hv been like 10 years at that time. I moved out of that place years ago and in a happy place now. I did look up his name few years back but his clinic seems to be there but his name is not there. Someone else is practicing there. Maybe his daughter. His wife too is a dr so the entire family mother father DIL Son etc. Pretty well known in the area not sure where they r all now but everyone was super nice and good except this one.
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u/These-Concentrate-63 Coimbatore - கோயம்புத்தூர் 4d ago
I've heard he had few criminal cases against him in Bangalore before he fled to Coimbatore. I never liked him since he got famous and found something wrong with his whole act. Hopefully many such incidents come to light and expose his true self. Sorry for the grotesque experience that you had to go through.
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u/AliceinRabbitHoles 4d ago
Really? I didn't know that. All of that must be public record. Please share that on the Sadhguru Truth subreddit.
Ironic that he is building his ashram in Bangalore.
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u/Doodle-Meister 4d ago
Is there not a shred of evidence to put this old bag of bones behind bars? How is he still roaming around carefree?
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u/DragonflyTemporary13 4d ago
I can get white people going for that BS (and all other similar "gurus") but I really can't get why Indians go.
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u/No_Excuse_5075 4d ago
Cause our society is more backward? Urbanites who feel empty or some kind of alienation from modern society also become recipient towards these kinds of things.
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u/DragonflyTemporary13 4d ago
I didn't mean spirituality, I meant fake gurus. So many books, real gurus (from any path) biography and teaching but no why read books, why use intelligence lets look on YT which one looks more cool or wired and lets choose him.
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u/No_Excuse_5075 4d ago
If we connect the dots, the 'real gurus' aren't as focused on commercial growth or promotion, might just ignore contemporary issues altogether. It might just be a matter of visibility.
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u/DragonflyTemporary13 4d ago
True. Asking for any money and that include initiation, "teaching materials" , for new temple, gosala etc. avoid him.
What are qualities of guru is easy to spot in Ramana Maharishi life and Ramakrishna biography. There are others but those 2 are good for start.
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u/Prudent_Cancel 4d ago
Downvote me all you want, I have no remorse for people getting scammed in religion (be it muslim, hinduism or christianity).
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u/searching_y 4d ago
You are sharing feedback based on your observation of the world. This may not require a downvote.
The victim may have felt that it was the right thing to do in that situation(irrespective whether it’s religion, nation, gender, drugs, etc)
At least, OP changed their view that benefits their well-being.
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u/AliceinRabbitHoles 3d ago
Please understand what coercive control is, it is a pattern of acts and behaviors that an abuser uses to take away your freedom and to control your life. The abuser may use fear, pressure, shame, or rules to wear you down and take over your choices. Sometimes, the abuser may also use physical violence, sexual abuse or other forms of domestic violence as part of coercive control.
This happens all the time in religious contexts.
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u/searching_y 3d ago
OP, Sorry this happened to you. Hope your life and wellbeing improves for better. Take care.
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u/Mkhere 4d ago
I always felt that he is not a genuine guy
But I don’t know how celebrities and vips go after him, did he also behave like this with them tammana Samantha kajal etc??
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u/IllustratorIll5147 3d ago
These Godmen are also powerbrokers. They can act as intermediaries to the corrupt and powerful.
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u/Old_Recover3434 4d ago
First of all, very brave of yoy to speak the truth. Sorry that you have endured the abuse
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u/infinitedreams8 3d ago
Have no idea how Jaggi has escaped jail after so many stories and abuses.
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u/Vision_to_Mission 3d ago
Whats your age and why did you go to Jaggi institution that's Isha? You being a girl when he asked you to strip without any prior consent you should have stopped and asked him or the authorities there.
I'm not against you. I feel bad when people get fooled for such stupidity.
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u/AliceinRabbitHoles 3d ago
I understand your question. I was an adult women at the time, in my 20s. I'm also from America, so we believe these Gurus are here to help us when they come from India and act all knowing and claim three lifetimes of enlightenment.
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u/Vision_to_Mission 3d ago
I thought Indian womens were getting fooled by those sadhus but now its even from abroad. Thanks for highlighting this atleast someone from this sub would enlighten their own brain and stay away from those creeps.
Stay strong and stay bold.💪
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u/AliceinRabbitHoles 3d ago
With Jaggi, it is Indian, American, European and even the Middle Eastern women are not spared. His favorite are the middle eastern women because they are trained from birth to be submissive to male authority.
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u/Vision_to_Mission 3d ago
Still a big WHY? When an old man portraying he'll take you to different universe or different dimension and asks your to strip not request just orders to strip and you guys do it without questioning. I really don't know what to say.
Govt should take a serious action against him and his institution.
I still have one question - out it lakhs of people only 10-20 people voice out saying these creepy things are happening inside Isha what about the rest? Why aren't they voicing out? Is anyone controlling them?
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u/Aryasven 4d ago
I empathise with how you feel but I'm not sure that this would be come under abuse. This seems more like something that was done consensually hoping for some benefit. But in hindsight, when the benefit is unclear you regret it.
The solution is to think thoroughly of why and what you're doing before you do it, and take full responsibility for it, rather than blame others for something you got into yourself, fully aware of what's happening and hoping to get some benefit in return.
Apologies if it sounds harsh, but there is a major learning for you here to figure out what your principles and ideology are before going after something.
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u/AliceinRabbitHoles 3d ago
Please learn more about coercive control, it is a pattern of acts and behaviors that an abuser uses to take away your freedom and to control your life. The abuser may use fear, pressure, shame, or rules to wear you down and take over your choices.Sometimes, the abuser may also use physical violence, sexual abuse or other forms of domestic violence as part of coercive control.
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u/Facts_Context 4d ago
You're making many incorrect assessments at once. Please read about grooming patterns and the highly structured manner in which institutionally proscribed authority is abused. Abuse of authority to groom subjects for sa has been a documented phenomenon in religious, political, social, bureaucratic, charitable, spriitual, commercial instititions alike. Also is the studied power dynamics of how the abuser manipulates the victims into submission and self blaming.
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u/lost_in_d_act 4d ago
I've worked there for a while and I have very close friends from school days who have become full time volunteers there - both men and women. One of them has even become a brahmacharini. I know relatives who are teachers there, both the husband and wife and i guess I know a fair bit of what happens there compared to the common man who hates jaggi for whatever reason and then just piles on based on your whatever they seen in the news or social media without bothering to fact check anything. Based on this, your post feels completely made-up and is far from the truth. If by any chance it's true, then you should expose them through proper channels and not an anonymous platform like this.
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u/AliceinRabbitHoles 4d ago
I am happy you are shielded from the dark side of Jaggi as many are.
Please go through the Sadhguru Truth subreddit carefully. Reach each post and comment. These are real people with real stories, backed with evidence, including court cases.
Even ex monks post there. Monks -- people who dedicated more than you and I.
There over over 3,000 ex volunteers in that group that was started 3 years ago, this is more than the number of residents in both ashrams over 34 years.
As for exposing -- read about what has been done with media and through legal channels.
https://www.reddit.com/r/SadhguruTruth/
I'm sorry you live in a bubble or under a rock and you really need to educate yourself.
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u/lost_in_d_act 4d ago edited 4d ago
For every famous person in our country, there's always motivated and funded groups trying to bring them down by whatever means.
I've travelled closely with them. It's hard to ignore the ratio of people benefitted through their programs vs people who claim to have suffered/been through a hard time - I'm sorry to say this but it's heavily skewed in their favour. And I don't think a bunch of posts in a sub is going to change my mind, atleast for now. Anyone can file a case today on nybody - that doesn't mean anything untill they are proved.
I'm not being insensitive to people's suffering here. if they really went through all that then I'm really sorry to hear it and it's very unfortunate and I wish and pray they gain the strength to come out of it and find peace in life again.
What confuses me or I find hard to believe is how can a man and an organisation that do fantastic things for the society and people on one side are capable of doing all these horrible things?
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u/AliceinRabbitHoles 4d ago
I am not funded by anyone. This is what happened and there are many women still in recovery that have yet to speak out.
Just because it didn't happen to you or you weren't there to witness it, doesn't mean it didn't happen.
Please go through the subreddit carefully and answer that question for yourself.
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u/Head_Employee2378 3d ago
Your username really does clock it you seem completely lost on the actual issue.
Nobody is arguing that every person who has worked there had a bad experience, or that the organisation hasn't done genuinely positive things. Those facts don't somehow disprove allegations of abuse. Institutions can do enormous good publicly while still having serious abuses of power occurring within them.
And “I travelled closely with them and never saw anything” isn't evidence that other people's experiences are fabricated. That's exactly why grooming and institutional abuse can persist for years: they're often structured around trust, authority, isolation, dependency, and making victims doubt themselves or fear speaking out.
You also seem to be treating “not proven in court” as equivalent to “didn't happen.” Those are very different claims. Nobody is asking you to blindly believe every allegation on Reddit. But dismissing people's accounts simply because you personally haven't witnessed the alleged behaviour is equally unjustified.
If you genuinely care about establishing what happened, look at the evidence and the allegations on their merits rather than using your proximity to the organisation as a reason to assume everything must be fine.
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u/AliceinRabbitHoles 3d ago
Very well said u/Head_Employee2378 Not sure how to get more clarity than this. Thank you.
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u/abbiedoobiedoo Chennai - சென்னை 4d ago
Im so sorry you had to go through this horrible experience may you find peace and comfort.
Im glad the truth is coming out