My story with Isha

When the scandal broke about people being held captive at the Isha Foundation, I didn’t even think it was a big deal… emotionally distraught parents taking a dramatic route for what they thought was their daughters’ wellbeing. Amidst everything else in the country, a story that barely deserved a mention in the media. But true to the times we live in, a mere hint of scandal has to be hyped and dramatized to a point of ridiculousness where no one can see the real issue anymore. As with everything silly, I thought it would die a quick natural death, and wasn’t worthy of a response. But of course, we live in the time of memes.

So I feel the need to tell my story too. Because it is easy to condemn without knowing the other side but especially because it has to do with an organization that has given me so much and with whom I’ve been associated for more than a decade.

I did the class when I was 17. If the modus operandi was ‘brainwashing’ as being claimed, it really was the ripe age. And with many family members already being involved with the foundation, I really would have been an easy pick 🙂 But 12 years down the line, I still live outside… free, thriving, with some tinkering to the mind but all body parts intact otherwise!

The journey across the last 12 years have involved multiple visits to the ashram including long stays spanning across months, advanced programmes, volunteering and being involved with the residents of the ashram in so many ways. I’ve had the privilege and the pleasure of having spent a lot of time interacting with monks, married people, residents, non-residents alike. As I moved across countries, jobs and educational courses, these interactions have had a lot to do with my growth as a person, encouraging me to look within, think for myself and make choices that may be unconventional but meaningful. Importantly, to make choices that were my own, for the enrichment of my own life. Even at troubled times, when I have sought advice and would have gladly accepted the luxury of someone else making a decision for me, the advice has always been to look carefully and find an answer for myself.

The value of that today is immeasurable. In a society, where everyone from your cook to your granduncle’s cousin wants to advice you on career, marriage and just life in general, the beauty and importance of such advice cannot be emphasized enough.

In all of this time, never in the course of any discussion has any way of life been advised or even suggested to me, much less forced. In any case, the fact that people can be brainwashed is an insult to human intelligence in general and particularly ridiculous at Isha, where the core of the path is about awareness – a point emphasized in no uncertain terms across every process, practice and activity. The founder, Sadhguru, definitely needs a mention here.. A cursory glance at his life would reveal a man fiercely uncontained and as an old volunteer would say, a man who values his freedom that much wouldn’t compromise another’s.

While I have been lucky to have extremely supportive family, I do understand the parental pain and confusion toward unconventional life choices. Especially, when the choices are at an end of the spectrum about which one has very limited knowledge. But as Maa Maayu, one of the sisters mentioned in the scandal, eloquently put it, the root cause of such concern and thereby, bigger factor to be addressed is the general lack of awareness about the spiritual path in society.

Admittedly, people involved in the spiritual realm have done enough to deserve the skepticism that it is viewed with. It’s understandably an easy section to target and condemn. Yet, in a country like India, which has been defined in many ways by the unparalleled spiritual ethos at its core and has been the epicentre for spiritual seekers and masters, it is fundamentally important to see and understand the spiritual path not as religious sycophancy, health fads or a part time hobby that one occasionally indulges in but as an exploration of the very fundamentals of life and its myriad forces. As he shares the tools, methods and knowledge to make this exploration possible for every individual towards his/her wellbeing, bringing about this paradigm shift and placing the spiritual process back at its deserved pedestal, where society as a whole is oriented towards inner well being, has been central to Sadhguru’s work.

Peel away at the man himself, the foundation, the activity or the volunteers and what you will always find at the core is an individual’s inner wellbeing. I say this with phenomenal pride of being associated with Isha that the integrity, commitment and zest with which thousands of volunteers throw themselves for the well being of others is something unparalleled anywhere else.

In such an atmosphere, the mere idea that one would be mentally coerced or physically violated is too far removed from reality to even be considered. So before we condemn, the very least we can try to do is understand.