Published:2012/08/30 08：00
(By the True Heart News interviewing team in Taipei)In April 2012, Indian yoga guru Guruji (Sri Sri Ravi Shankar) was scheduled to visit Taiwan to lead an event entitled “A Music and Mass Meditation Gathering” for ten-thousand people and to teach advanced yoga. The public has developed a fascination for his breathing techniques and people are flocking to learn about them. Lately, this global trend of interest in Indian Yoga is making its way into Taiwan.
On June 20, 2011, Profil, an Austrian magazine, published a special article on Indian yoga guru Swami, the founder of “Yoga in Daily Life,” who was accused of sexually abusing many of his European female students. These female students spoke from their own experience when they revealed that the yogic guru Swami uses sex as a cultivation means. They told of how their passion in pursuing liberation of mind and body led them to the abysmal fate of being used as sex tools, resulting in lifelong sorrow.
Based on the collective experiences of the female victims, one can see that modern people live in a world of scientific advancement but feel increasingly overwhelmed by a sense of inner emptiness and vulnerability. Contemplative meditation, breathing techniques, Divine love… all sorts of things seem to offer them self-salvation, an escape from the sufferings of life.
Yoga practice and Shiva worship originated in India. Both emphasize that through the guidance of gurus, people can feel Divine love and, during contemplative meditation, the followers should wholeheartedly dedicate all and everything to the Divine. As one could guess, such practice finally results in the cliché of female disciples being requested to offer their bodies in order to bring forth Divine love through sexual union with the gurus.
Those selected female disciples have been brain-washed over the years by chanting mantras during group cultivation: that my guru is perfect, that my guru is all I have, that my guru embodies Divine love, whatever my guru requests shall be given without deny, and I am willing to offer all to my supreme guru. Due to this deeply embedded mentality, when asked by the guru to undress and have sex, the female followers totally surrender their bodies and minds to the guru without the slightest hesitation or doubt. It is not until they are sexually assaulted, that they are shocked into recognizing that their seemingly “serene saintly guru” is nothing but a licentious ordinary being.
Similar cases happened earlier in San Francisco, USA. In August 2002, the founder of the religious organization "Sri Chinmoy Centre"- yoga guru Sri Chinmoy- was accused by one of his female disciples, Sevika, of being used for sexual practice with him. Sevika reported that Sri Chinmoy has several sex partners at the same time, all being female disciples of the inner circle. Sevika criticized that Sri Chinmoy had approached her in the name of soul purification and beguiled her into a “now or never” chance. She was raped by Sri Chinmoy and since then was treated as his sex slave for the sexual practice.
As a member of the guru’s sex harem, it was of vital importance to be at his disposal at all times; otherwise, the disciple would be severely scolded, or even threatened with loss of the position or expulsion from the group. Among Chinmoy’s sex partners, some of them knew each other, and some did not. Sometimes, two or three of them would travel along with the guru, having group sex throughout the journey.
These two internationally renowned yogis, Chinmoy and Swami, are recognized as highly cultivated Indian Yoga masters, whose practice methods are derived from Yoga cultivation that has the special feature of emphasis on Divine love and oneness with the Divine. However, this kind of practice requires the sexual union of physical bodies to experience “Divine love and blessing.” These Yoga gurus are adept at instructing their followers in contemplative meditation to attain a sense of tranquility and inner bliss. Some followers are even able to feel the tremendous Divine love of the universe. Having been touched by this feeling of great love, faith in the guru becomes even more solid.
If the final goal is to be one with the Divine to experience Divine love, how can a mortal physical become one with the spiritual Divine? So Yoga gurus would act on behalf of the Divine to bless their female followers with sexual union. The result of this is more scandals about the sexual practices and the abuse of female disciples by internationally renowned yoga masters.
Many disgraceful incidences that happened in Europe and America are now known all over the world through the internet. Indeed, a free mind, inner peace and tranquility are common pursuits for the modern people. Modernity brings more and more temptations each generation. People are overwhelmed by increasingly sensational entertainment and rapid technological advance. Still, all this over-stimulation cannot fill up the void inside. It is only natural to turn to the pursuit of spiritual growth, development, meditation, etc. Unfortunately, people don’t realize that wanting oneness with the Divine or seeking the serene tranquility of Divine love is merely chasing after other kinds of mental phenomena. They do not and cannot lead to real freedom and true liberation.
With regards to this issue, Zhang Gongpu, Chairman of the True Enlightenment Education Foundation, says it is regrettable that this type of sexual practice not only exists within the Yogic communities but also prevails among the practitioners of Tibetan Tantric Buddhism. It is because both practices originally derive from Hindu Tantrism. In order to have sexual union with more females, the Yogis must refrain themselves from emotion and passion, and regard both their own and the female disciples’ bodies as tools for sexual practice.
In Tibetan “Buddhism,” an identical Tantric practice does exist, which is clearly documented in the book, among others, The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, by Tsongkhapa, an ancient patriarch of the Tibetan Tantric School.
The teachings required the practitioners to engage in long hours of Tantric sexual practice with 12-20 years-old girls everyday. Lamas should not allow the desire to ejaculate to arise during sexual practice. They must experience the state of empty mind without a thought arising and absorb the female sexual fluid into their own bodies. This accomplishes the union of Yin and Yang, allowing the lama to achieve the goal of attaining Buddhahood in a lifetime.
Chairman Zhang points out that Tantric sexual practice only benefits the gurus whether in Indian Yoga or in Tibetan “Buddhism.” The male party in both schools, not only satisfies his sexual desire during the copulation practice, but also attains their supposed spiritual benefit through this so-called advanced cultivation method.
The sexual fluid of female partners is regarded as the source of Yin energy. During sexual union, females are like energy batteries, consumable items. Once a female is drained, the male practitioner will change to another fresh one. For this reason, the yogi must practice absorbing sexual fluid until he is able to fully control both the Yin and Yang energies
In fact, from ancient times until now, not a single yogi has been able to perfectly control the so-called Yin and Yang energies, and the idea of attaining Buddhahood in a lifetime is purely an illusion.
Unfortunately, females have always been the victims in such kind of practice. Even though Tibetan “Buddhism” claims that Buddhahood can also be achieved by female consorts, they are actually beguiled into sexual slavery and willingly serve as energy batteries to be sucked empty by lamas.
Chairman Zhang notes that there has been much media coverage abroad on Tantric practice which resulted in female disciples being sexually abused by their gurus. Unfortunately, the threats and harm of Tantric Yoga are not limited to this. As long as any individuals still accept with faith the idea that, “Human life comes from the Divine and begins through sex; therefore, the way back to the Divine is also through sex,” the regrettable cases of religious sexual assault will certainly continue to happen.
Chairman Zhang thus exhorts the public to choose the right way while seeking spiritual growth, cultivation and liberation. If yoga breathing can quell our minds and uplift our souls, Chinese traditional systems of Tai Chi guidance and so forth are even better at achieving such purposes. It is not necessary to seek far and wide for what already lays close at hand.
People should also know that peaceful states of mind, the state of “not a thought arising” and the state of “shattering the void” are not the dharma-gate of true liberation. None of the contemporary yogis have even reached the state of the First Dhyana. In the sutras, Buddha Sakyamuni tirelessly taught that the first through the fourth dhyana are merely the states of mind concentration, still within the scope of consciousness, and cannot help people transcend rebirth. One cannot attain ultimate liberation nor bring forth the prajna wisdom through concentration.
The trend of tantric yoga practice is becoming popular in Taiwan. A few years ago, Dr. Chien Shan-Chi, a professor at National Taiwan University of Art, introduced a group sex yoga practice. Recently, some entertainers openly advocate that yoga practice can enhance sexual energy and promote sexual delight.
Soon, Yogi Guruji, “the breathing god of India,” will visit Taiwan and hold a symposium on how to have a peaceful mind. In the light of the unstoppable trend towards yoga practice, Chairman Zhang appeals to the public to “stop, look and listen” to avoid being led blindly into something you might regret for the rest of your life. (Reported by the Interviewing Team)
Editor's Note:
This article is an English version of the Chinese edition published on
April 13, 2012.
