Isha Foundation Harassed Again!

The missionary and leftist ecosystem is hell-bent on attacking the Isha Foundation in Coimbatore — for obvious reasons.

Let’s look at the chronology of what has happened in the recent years.

Original case:

In September 2024, there was an attempt to harass the foundation with a dummy case in the Madras High Court regarding two lady monks alleging that they were held captive in the Isha Yoga Center.

The Habeus Corpus petition itself had no grounds because the lady monks presented themselves in the court. This case was reopened with no fresh proofs after it was dismissed in 2016 itself for lack of grounds.

Yet, the judge ordered for a detailed police enquiry. Many lawyers were shocked with the statements made by the Madras High Court judges.

150 police personnel descended on the Isha Yoga Center in an attempt to chase some ghosts, talking to the Isha meditators and volunteers there. There was a huge hue-and-cry on social media about the abuse of political and judicial power.

Isha Foundation went to the Supreme Court. Looking at the grounds of abuse, the case was taken up after the CJI himself spoke to the two lady monks. The CJI then ordered the case be transferred to the Supreme Court from the Madras High Court.

The Supreme Court ordered the Tamil Nadu police to send the investigation details to the SC and not the Madras HC.

Sensing that they are clearly losing the forceful detention case of the lady monks, the missionary / communist ecosystem is pulling all its threads.

Just one day before the Supreme Court hearing happens, on 17th October 2024, a media trial is being made out with sexual harassment cases against Isha.

Allegation 1:

A press meet was called by the parents of a boy who was allegedly sexually assaulted while studying at the Isha Home School.

The mother alleges that her son was sexually assaulted before COVID and they came to know about it during the lockdown from his diary.

She claims there was no digital trail — no email responses or whatsapp responses — just whatsapp calls. Quite convenient if you ask me.

The mother also claims she did not go to the police because she respects Sadhguru too much. And yet, she did call for a press meet but did not go the police again!

Something seems to be missing here. I have a couple of questions for the parent:

(1) If your son becomes suicidal because somebody abused him and you are pissed about it, why did you not go to the police or call for a press meet then itself? Why wait for 2–3 years if you have the proofs?

(2) If the Isha Foundation knew you were disgruntled and did not respond to you initially, how come they allowed you to be a political science teacher with them, till June 2024? Are they so naive and foolish?

Do not get me wrong, if there is an abuse a child has suffered, whoever is responsible for it should be certainly acted against. If the parent had called for the school administration to be punished, it would not have raised any flags. But she is calling out Sadhguru and that is making the background more suspicious.

Allegation 2:

There is another parent who joined the press meeting via Whatsapp apparently claiming her 7-year-old daughter was raped multiple times by teachers at the Isha Home School and became suicidal (as the Hindu article claims).

Again the same questions remain:

(1) If your daughter is traumatized because somebody sexually abused her and you are angry about it, why did you not go to the police immediately?

(2) Who created the platform for two ‘allegedly’ disgruntled parents to come together? One is from Andhra / Telangana and the other is from Tamil Nadu. Their children appear to be from different age groups. It surely could not have been a chance coming together.

When a journalist asked why the mother did not file a police case in any part of India as the incident happened a few years ago, she replied that she is a core volunteer with Isha. I am not clear how this is an answer.

Glaring inconsistencies I noted in the press meet:

(1) In the press meet video on FaceBook, there were other allegations as well casually thrown about some missing people, which The Hindu article wrongly says as missing children. This is a case that has been clearly rubbished by the foundation.

(2) There was also a mention about girl children doing yoga half-naked — it sounds like a bad movie plot! I know for a fact that this is not the case for any children there.

(3) Then there were weird statements like the faculty is undertrained but overqualified to look after the children. What does that even mean?

(4) The names mentioned — Bharati, Maa Pradyuta, etc. are not associated with the school for several years now.

(5) Calling for the closing of the yoga center instead of fixing the irregularities if any, the people using words like brainwashing, forceful detention, etc., which are the same ones that have been constantly used by the left / missionary ecosystem in TN reeks of agenda.

My take:

I have downloaded the press meet video so that tomorrow it cannot be claimed that there were no inconsistencies and lies.

The parents claim that they have proofs which they will submit to “any law enforcing agency”. I wonder why they have not done so till now and would be happy if the proofs are exposed to the world too — if there is someone from the schools is found guilty and has to be punished, they should be.

Mark my words, even before any proofs of wrongdoing come out, there will be a big media trial and debates conducted in the Tamil and Telugu media about all this. People will be repeatedly told that an ashram is a place of sexual abuse and harassment.

This is not an attack on Isha alone, it is a coordinated attack on all things Sanatana Dharma stands for. Will the Dharma win again?

Isha has been like the last bastion that withstood these attacks for a while in Tamil Nadu. But bringing little children into this, could likely to tilt the balance against Isha in the public mind space and that is the goal of the vested interests.