Is Yoga A Cult?

1. Or am I watching too much Netflix?

I have just finished the documentary Wild, Wild Country about the spiritual guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and his feisty right-hand woman Ma Anand Sheela. I already had a true-blue fear of being entrapped by the Moonies when I was a child. My friend picked up on this and kindly used to chant gibberish at me during lunch and tell me I would be forced to marry our teacher (an old man of twenty-seven). I couldn’t look him in the eye for months in case he whisked me away to live in bunk beds in Japan. (Possibly I didn’t have an absolute understanding of the whole situation.)

But! But! What has fascinated me about this particular doco is that I had always laughed off any non-yogi’s perception that yoga was a bit cult-like. Then I spoke to yoga friends who had watched this and some of them said they’d often “wondered if he [Rajneesh] was a bit off”.

THEY HAD WONDERED IF HE WAS A BIT OFF.
A. BIT. OFF.

I’m just going to leave that there for a minute because HELLO?! Yes! Yes, he, it, the whole set-up was a bit off with a small group of disciples welding enormous power over a huge number of followers, millions of dollars at their disposal and a fashion dictatorship of only allowing maroon, orange and pink to be worn. Together.

Additionally, if the hysterical crying, shaking and bowing down before one man and committing fraud all over the place didn’t clue you in, then yes, I’m here to tell you: That there is one big, fat cult.

Rajneesh who later went on to be known as Osho wrote many books, still selling today with the word “yoga” in the title. This, along with the original concept of the commune being a place of higher consciousness and better living for the environment and future world, makes me hesitate. Because that’s what I want too. As do many of the beautiful humans I come into contact with. And some of them speak with total reverance of their teachers, their… gurus.

2. What about my yoga?

No, my yoga isn’t a cult. At least I don’t think so. Unless I actually have been indoctrinated (in which case, please send help).

I struggle with organised religions and I have touched on this before, the guru-type status sometimes given to teachers (often by teachers). It makes me uncomfortable.

With all respect to the lineage of yoga and philosophy behind it, I don’t accept the unquestioned devotion towards one man or woman. Perhaps I haven’t learnt enough or been in the presence of those I hear spoken of in such a way. Perhaps. But I can no more imagine worshipping someone as I can believing Trump and Putin don’t FaceTime each other.

I’m hopeful my inner cynic will keep me safe from the Moonies.

3. My mum thinks so.

So far in my yoga journey I’ve only defended my practice to my mother who asked me this very question back in the day when I was in the honeymoon period of discovery and could not shut up about it.

In her defence I had for fun and chuckles once told her I’d joined the Hare Krishna movement in London, sending her this news along with pamphlets and incense. I also sent her a photo of me amongst a group of smiley, happy people when I’d accidentally gone to a Buddhist convention with my French boyfriend who spoke no English. I thought we were going to a concert and was slightly disconcerted when the stage filled with flowing robes instead. To my surprise I got a little excited about Buddhism; still have the tee-shirt from the event but the boyfriend only lasted about five minutes.

She has nothing to worry about. I would never wear maroon.

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Am I way off base here with the guru thing and yoga or do you have similar thoughts? Would LOVE to know. Leave a comment below and we can discuss. Or start our own cult!

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Photo by Andre Benz

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© The Yoga Connection 2018