Before we begin, let’s make it clear that we are not trying to blanket all the gurus of the world. Of course there are great teachers and great gurus out there, and those who have been fortunate enough to enjoy the presence of such people, should remain just that – fortunate. Here we are looking into the other side, which is there and needs to be mentioned for the sake of all those searching for their teachers. The existence of bad and criminal gurus is a fact. And here we are exploring this side of the story alone. To learn more about what a good guru is like and should be like, head over to this post.
Guru gone bad is a person who misuses and abuses the trust placed in them by their disciples. They may engage in one or several forms of abuse – psychological, financial, sexual, physical. In times when many feel lost, it can be seductive to give away all your power to one person, hoping that they will give you all that you need and fill the emptiness and the longing inside. However, this can be very dangerous. Many people are too vulnerable or lost to trust their gut and their own instincts, even when these are speaking to them loudly. When looking for your guru, do your research first. The easiest way to detect a bad guru is if they speak too highly of themselves. If they claim that they are enlightened or a guru, that’s usually a red flag. People who are enlightened would never call themselves enlightened.
The Term Guru
First we should shed light on the term guru. ‘Gu’ means darkness and ‘ru’ light. Guru is the one who takes us from darkness to light. A guru is a spiritual teacher, a reverential guide whom you trust and follow unconditionally. A person that you admire and never question. They make you feel whole and included in a way that you never felt before.
The Rule Rather Than the Exception?
Unfortunately, nowadays there’s too many bad gurus exploiting their power over others. I listened to the podcast The Guru is Dead, which the hosts started with a little back and forth: “You say a name of a yoga school or religious tradition, and I say the name of a guru or powerful leader that was accused of some kind of abuse or misconduct, whether it be sexual, emotional, financial, or physical.”
The list that followed was appalling:
- Ashtanga – Pattabhi Jois
- Iyengar – B.K.S Iyengar and Manouso Manos
- Osho’s movement – Osho himself
- Transcendental meditation – Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
- Anusara – John Friend
- Jivamukti – Ruth Lauer Manenti
- Mahayana Buddhism – Michael Roach
- Tantric Order of America – Pierre Bernard – The Great Oom
- Siddha Yoga – Swami Muktananda
- Zen Buddhism – Eido Shimano and Richard Baker
- Kripalu – Amrit Desai
- The Hare Krishnas – too many to county
- Kundalini – Yogi Bhajan
- Shambhala – Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche
- Bikram – Bikram Choudhury.
That basically covers most of the widely known yoga schools. It seems like transgressions by famous yoga teachers aren’t an exception, but the rule.
Who Did What
- Pattabhi Jois was accused of sexually assaulting a former student. And there were even photos published to prove it. (NY Daily News)
- Manouso Manos was accused of having sexual relationships with female students and touching students inappropriately in class. (KQED)
- BKS Iyengar was known to mock, bully, kick and slap students in his classes. (Newyorker)
- Yogi Bhajan was accused of sexual assault and sexual misconduct. (Daily Mail)
- As for Osho, there’s too many things to list. Allegedly, he was addicted to drugs, and his cult organized orgies. And the 3000 homeless people they brought into their ashram were drugged with Haldol.
- Bikram was accused of numerous sexual misconducts, too many to count.
And the list goes on.
We also reached out to fellow yogis to hear about their experiences with bad gurus. Many of the answers we got were equally disappointing.
Asking Yogis About Bad Gurus
Lauren Mason, yoga therapist (C-IAYT):
In over 15 years of practicing yoga, I have never once learned from someone who claimed to be a guru. And I consider this a great advantage. I watched as many of my friends and colleagues went through a time of great upheaval, doubt, and pain when yet another modern “guru” was revealed to be less than divine.
Yogi Bhajan, the much-acclaimed teacher of modern Kundalini yoga, was revealed to have assaulted many of his female students. And the revelations seriously affected all the followers of his teachings. They struggled with how to separate his teachings from his actions, and many people stopped practicing altogether. This is just the most recent and most personal example I have seen of supposed gurus taking advantage of their students. There is a tradition of students being completely committed to the guru, seeing them as a divine representative. This tradition can be manipulated and misused easily.
There is an idea of a chain of teachers and students going back for centuries and finding our place within it (guru shishya parampara), but this relies on the teachers being true gurus – those who reveal the light in darkness. Too many modern teachers do not have the experience and training and support to be true gurus. Instead, they know just enough about their “brand” of yoga to start teaching students, and then they reach their limitations. These false gurus, when confronted with the limits of their knowledge and abilities, instead of finding humility, find how they can maintain power or take advantage of their adoring students.
Understanding What Makes a Real Guru
There is no teacher that I know who would claim the title of guru, and one reason is that they truly understand what a real guru is, and what a challenging role that is to fill. They do not give themselves that title and correct students who might bestow it on them. There are no exact guidelines for what a guru is, but my definition would say that a necessary requirement is humility to the students and the teachings. Those I would consider gurus would minimize themselves and be honest about their limitations, honoring the teachings and the teachers who came before while also acknowledging that each student is unique and needs to learn in their own way. And none of them claims that becoming closer to the guru would lead to better spiritual growth.
As I already stated, I consider myself quite fortunate that I have never studied with a guru. The only gurus I have ever learned from are no longer living, and I have been able to learn their teachings through reading or through their students. I have been able to study with teachers who understand what a huge responsibility the title of “guru” is, and they do not approach it lightly. They are aware of how power can lead to terrible judgment and are sure to approach their work and teaching ethically. They are aware that part of their yoga practice is to maintain humility, recognize how their influence affects their students, and be honest about their limitations and flaws.
N. F (a yoga teacher with over 20 years of experience in yoga):
A lot of white women travel to India to “find themselves,” often inspired by the book/movie ‘Eat Pray Love’. They are often in vulnerable emotional states. They have recently gone through a breakup, mental health crisis, the consequences of a lifetime of poor decisions, or some trauma.
In Kerala, these women gravitate toward one specific town, to the point that it is absolutely brimming with these types of women who stay for a month or two and leave. They often have a romanticized view of Indian men. A place full of vulnerable women who fetishize Indian men and leave after a month: of course it attracts perverts. I’ve seen multiple cases among women I met where they met someone claiming to be a spiritual advisor, psychological advisor, sound healer, etc.
After some period of time (or sometimes immediately), this person invariably determines that something is off about their energy, perhaps with their sex chakra. The only way for them to heal it is by having sex with this man/advisor. My friends were quite disgusted and cut contact with the men. But if this trick works even 1% of the time, it’s worth it for the men. After all, these women leave in a few weeks. and they’re not Indian citizens. And even if they filed some sort of legal complaint, they would be unlikely to win, since it is usually consensual when it happens. After all, lying to get someone to sleep with you is certainly not illegal.
Kate Okun (Hatha yoga teacher for 10 years and a practitioner for 25):
I personally run far away at the slightest hint of a guru. It’s arcane and too many can’t handle that role and abuse their power. Yes, have mentors. Yes, always be learning from elders and experts. Teach people to trust/rely/follow their own inner knowing-not someone else’s.
Marc Bestgen (chronic pain specialist):
Many gurus are very beautiful people. However, take care of those who are very pushy trying to sell you material goods and products. Also of those telling you “don’t think, you will understand someday,” forbidding you to have your own judgment. Also some try to take you out of your family and friends environment, saying “I’m the only person you need”. I met a lot of self proclaimed gurus. Now happily enjoying life with one who makes me laugh on top of teaching me lots.
Leslie Pearlman (Director at Good Ground Yoga)
Sexual abuse is pervasive not just in the yoga community but everywhere. It feels more egregious here because spiritual leaders use their power to take advantage in the name of healing and transcendence. Personally, I have had numerous male teachers inappropriately “adjust me” and come on to me under the guise of sacred connection.
What happened here? How can a practice considered so safe and beneficial bring out so many predators?
Power Corrupts and Gurus Are No Exception?
The book ‘The Guru Papers: Masks of Authoritarian Power‘ has great answers to offer on this:
“The guru/disciple relationship contains an essential assumption that makes it particularly susceptible to abuse: namely, that it is possible for a person to be totally immune from the corruptions of power. What this must also mean is that such a person is totally free of all self-interest, for self-interest necessarily entails the possibility of corruption. Our perspective is that no one, no matter how exalted in awareness and understanding, can totally escape the psychological fact that self-interest is an element in being human, and is also a necessary element in staying alive.
Regardless of whether or not it is possible for anyone to transcend self-interest and the capacity to be corrupted by power, how could anyone (even—or especially—that person) be sure this is so? In political realms, the corruptions inherent in power are taken for granted. The power one person can have over another in so-called spiritual realms is far greater than any other, if one believes that person is the doorway to salvation. This power is so absolute that it can lead to excesses that are correspondingly extreme.”
How many people can remain immune to this type of power? Very few, I am certain. And yet, self-proclaimed gurus are too many to count.
The Guru’s Possessiveness
And then of course, there is the ego. Just recently I attended a meditation workshop by a great teacher of mine. One of the participants had shared that he had been studying yoga under one teacher for decades. And now that she found this teacher we were having a workshop with and would like to receive the teachings from them both, she was afraid to share this with her guru. She was literally afraid of his reaction.
This possessive “you’re my student and nobody else’s” seems like misdirected masculine energy, the one that is responsible for so many wars in the male dominated era we live in. It is the same type of energy I experience as an Orthodox Christian, where I regularly have to hear that if I am practicing yoga, I will switch over to another religion and our Christian God will not be happy with that. If these gurus are representing God, and God is merciful and wants you to be happy and at peace, then how come there’s so much possessiveness in both spirituality and religion?
The Guru Experiment
There is a great documentary on the topic of gurus called Kumare. The director of the movie, Vikhram Gandi, pretended to be a guru to see what would happen. He regurgitated all the widely known spiritual truths he could think of. He even came up with his own Kumare Sutra:
Kumare sutra: The seeker who finds the teacher feeds himself with the milk of wisdom, like a child at the mother’s tit. Nurtured by faith, in a dream…
The crazy thing was just how trusting people were of them, claiming that he was not phoney, that they could sense his aura and a connection to him. They’d say about him:
“We know the answers inside, we just need someone to bring them out in us and that’s what he does,” “I felt better in his presence.”
He basically even admitted that he was a fraud, but people still didn’t get it.
Why Do People Give So Much Power to Gurus?
“In the East gurus have institutional status and are considered by believers to be a direct and unblemished expression of the divine. Gurus are the only living individuals to whom complete obedience on all matters is prescribed by the roles.” (Guru Papers)
Turning to certain teachers for specific purposes is one thing. But putting all your power into one person, now that’s something else. What are the criteria for people to do something like that?
Priyanka Devi Gupta has been a yoga teacher for 10 years. She spent months in ashrams teaching and assisting: “People who are vulnerable and are looking for some direction in life, and they meet someone that’s charismatic and says all the right things. Basically regurgitating the wisdom of the spiritual. And they get sucked into that and because they have low self-esteem, they start to adore the person that’s relaying the message. We get enamored by somebody and we think ‘wow they are so great’. I say vulnerable population but obviously it’s not just people who are vulnerable.”
Filling the Emptiness Inside
Another reason why people give themselves to gurus is to fill an emptiness, a void inside them. They have tried other ways, including addictions, and failed. It’s similar to what Gabor Mate refers to as the Real of the Hungry Ghost. We wrote more about this syndrome in our article on addictions. Since many do get addicted to spirituality or meditation or yoga, it’s worth looking into that post to understand more about the nature of addictions.
The Hungry Ghost is this scrawny little thing inside us all always searching for something to fill its hunger. Why is the void or the hunger there in the first place?
It could be from a serious trauma, such as abuse, or developmental trauma, which more or less every one of us experiences. It’s what one of my teachers once said: “Trauma? I have trauma. My mother was too good to me. She told me I could do anything, so I have become arrogant.”
So, the void or the hunger could be due to trauma, feeling lost, or having experienced some kind of loss, low self-esteem, addiction, the need for belonging, support, connection and external validation, or the need to surrender yourself to something greater than you.
The Seductiveness of the Idea of a Guru
Having someone else give you all the answers and take all your pain away sure is seductive: “The thought of giving up my power to someone else was really seductive in the beginning, but it was seductive because I felt like I wouldn’t have to bear the full burden of my decisions, or my journey, or my feeling lost.” (Jesal, The Guru is Dead)
When one can’t deal with their own troubles, problems and suffering, the idea of finding a leader who will take on that responsibility for them can be quite attractive. And it gets easy to resort to magical thinking.
In times when Western religions are falling short on giving people the answers they are looking for, Asian teachings do have quite an appeal. We tend to exotify and idealize them and those who come saying that they represent such teachings.
The Need for a Teacher
Often when I read Hatha yoga books, there is a note saying that I should do this and that practice only under the supervision of a qualified teacher. In Hinduism and Buddhism, spirituality was never something to be studied on your own. You needed a good teacher.
“Practices such as yoga and meditation have been refined over millennia to bring insights into such inner psychological states as fear, sorrow, and the nature of personal identity. A guru is a spiritual guide or teacher who through obedience to his guru is presumed to have attained spiritual realization, after which it is further presumed he can do the same for others if they likewise obey him. The tutorial method of religious instruction—the transmission of information from guru (Hinduism) or spiritual master (Buddhism) to disciple—was an integral part of maintaining Eastern traditions. Religious self-instruction was considered dubious at best because part of Eastern tradition asserts the need for a realized master to cut through self-delusion.” (The Guru Papers)
Even the Hindu American Federation says that: “The relationship between a guru and his student is highly revered in Hindu culture. Examples of its sacredness about in Hindu epics like the Mahabharata, in which respect, love, and devotion to the guru is demonstrated. To truly progress in yoga, a guru in this traditional sense is necessary. Texts such as the Hatha Yoga Pradipika continuously remind the reader to only practice the various yogic techniques under the guidance of a guru. But for the majority of practitioners whose yoga is in nascent stages, an experienced and learned teacher is a must. Unfortunately, in a world of 200-hour teacher trainings, even such qualified yoga teachers are difficult to find.” (The Guru Is Dead)
How to Tell a Good Guru From a Bad One
In both Hinduism and Buddhism they say that if someone is claiming to be enlightened, they are probably not. An enlightened person doesn’t say that they are enlightened. We asked our yogis to share more about the good kind of gurus and how to recognize them.
Sanja Milutin, a teacher and practitioner of yoga for 17 years:
I’m happy with my Guru (60+, Indian female who has been practicing yoga since childhood, from yogini parents and yoga teachers for over 40 years). Although she doesn’t call herself that, her teachings are amazing and I follow her with all my heart. With this particular Guru, I must call her Guru, because she is so different from all the previous yoga teachers I had in my 17 years old yoga journey. I’ve been with her for over a year now, but that’s just the beginning. She always says, the real Guru is inside you and the knowledge should be shared, not sold, so most of her teachings are on a voluntary base. And she is a true wellspring of knowledge!
Marie Asbury (Soaring Soul Wellness):
To me a guru is anyone I learn from. It could be a toddler throwing a fit teaching me empathy, it could be my friend reflecting back to me in a way that brings an aha moment. But a person claiming to be a guru hints at my red flag alert.
Debbie Y. (RYT 200, LSW):
Listen to how their energy affects you. If someone or something seems off, regardless if others agree or not, keep your distance. I kid you not, your spidey sense is rarely wrong.
Priyanka Devi Gupta:
If you find you’re gonna be meeting a certain guru you’ve heard about, you will want to check and see if there are any reviews and feedback online about this person. Do your research.
In India we have the hugging Amma, and it’s very interesting because she’s very revered in India, very respected. But if you research about her, you’ll find that there are some really strange stories. Even if you do research on Shivananda Ashram, there’s a lot of interesting stuff coming out.
And I think what’s most important, when you feel you have a gut or intuition about this person, thinking ‘this doesn’t sound right’, ‘this person doesn’t make me feel comfortable’, that’s the gut or intuition. And many of us think ‘no, I must not be feeling this, it can’t be correct, so many people like this person’. But honestly the gut and intuition are all very solid ways to feel the dark side of a supposed guru. If you feel like that, you definitely don’t want to be going into a room with them.
Personally, I have come across a lot of volunteers or workers in ashrams which made me feel a little weird. So then you just want to stay away from them. And even some of these gurus and pundits that I have come across, if something doesn’t feel right about them, then honestly one should go by their gut. Because it’s usually right, on track.
Lauren Mason:
One of my favorite teachers, Chase Bossart of The Yoga Well, who studied with TKV Desikachar, had excellent advice for students looking for a teacher or guru. He would advise to look for a teacher with both eyes open, using your wisdom and discernment to look critically at everything about the teacher before devoting yourself to studying with them.
Once you have found a teacher, follow them with one eye closed. If you keep “both eyes open,” you will see too many of their human flaws and maybe doubt their guidance too much. If you close both eyes, you are too trusting and could be led astray or hurt. With one eye open, you can consider the teachings critically while still allowing trust in the guidance of the teacher.
I do not want to blame victims, so please do not interpret this advice as saying, “victims should be more discerning.” Rather, we as modern yoga students should go into study with both eyes fully open to the fact that predators exist and power can corrupt good teachers. The idea of a guru one follows with complete devotion and obedience is not one that fits into the modern study of yoga for most people.
Bhagyashree Raipure Baviskar
I like reading about past yogis and even though I don’t follow any, the more I read about the perverts in the skin of gurus, the more assuring it is to me that a real guru is within.
A true spiritual teacher sees your greatness and teaches you how to see it in yourself. They show you by example how to trust your own guidance system, and thus help you awaken your own inner mystic and set yourself free from fear and dogma. Good teachers help you believe in yourself rather than cultivate a belief in them.Ultimately they teach you to connect to the divinity that lies within you.
Anita Moorjani, Sensitive Is the New Strong: The Power of Empaths in an Increasingly Harsh World
Conclusion: Be Careful Who You Give Your Trust To
To progress in yoga, just like in many other disciplines, you need a teacher. As alluring it might seem to give all your power and trust to one person, beware. Always keep one eye open. And if you hear someone claiming to be enlightened or a guru, they are probably not. You are your best friend, the only person who has been with you through thick and thin. Why betray that relationship for an outside authority? And remember, the guru is within you.
Tatjana Glogovac, Senior Contributor At L’Aquila Active
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