Eight Year Old Raped
I am an IT professional from Atlanta who came in contact with Jaggi and his organisation in 2004 during a difficult time. Manipulated into blind faith, I saw him as a living God and surrenderedmy logic completely. For 20 years, my family and I endured deceit, coercion, confinement, financial exploitation, and sexual improprieties—until I finally saw through his deception. The horrors within this self-styled godman’s empire could fill volumes, but the real tragedy is the irreversible damage it inflicted on us.
A Lebanese lady assisted me in registering for the introductory program of Isha Foundation and my immediate indoctrination began when she sent me a book titled “Mystic Musings.”
I lost my job in October 2007 and my wife and I started volunteering for the Inner Engineering Program. In 2008, we enrolled our elder daughter in Isha Home School in India.
During the next break, my daughter was unwilling to go back to the school saying friends are not nice as she was unable to share the actual reason for her unwillingness. We thought it was a typical tantrum of a child and sent her back.
When we enquired with the school why she was unwilling to come back to school, the authorities said she was having dyslexia. But when we tested her with a professional test in the US, there was no sign of dyslexia.
We believed Isha more than our kid and and remained fooled by coercive control, undue influence and indoctrination. Though some other students had similar problems, the parents brushed it aside and believed in the version of Isha and Jaggi. During the next break also she was unwilling to go back to Isha school for the next semester, but we convinced her to complete the next two semesters. But during our visit, we noticed that the kids were not at all happy and were not dressing up properly and not eating properly. Kids who are 7, 8, 9 years olds were denied proper food on the pretext of feeling sleepy in class and of getting fat. Finally, we pulled her out in 2009.
In 2013-14, my daughter was doing the Bhava Spandana Program, an advanced meditation program, which is led by Jaggi himself. Although she was underaged she received special permission to sit on the program since she had studied at Isha school. During a session where participants were encouraged to share a secret they had never revealed before, she confided in an American woman that she had been repeatedly raped by her teacher when she was studying at Isha School. The woman was stunned and shaken.
The lady convinced my daughter who was 13 years old then to speak to Jaggi about it. She went up to Jaggi who was in the same hall and narrated what she had gone through and pleaded with him to take action so that other child would have to suffer as she had. But Jaggi’s response was chilling. He told her to surrender her pain at his feet and be free. Our helpless daughter fell silent.
We were so deeply brainwashed by Jaggi that we failed to see the suffering of our daughter. Even after she had hinted at inappropriate touching and behavior by her teacher, we failed to grasp the gravity of it. She was traumatized, often waking up screaming in her sleep. But we were too blind to understand why.
It was only in 2023 that we discovered the painful truth, that our daughter had been too scared to tell us that she had been molested and raped. She had suffered in silence all these years. In 2023, when her aunt casually asked why she didn’t have a boyfriend, she finally opened up and revealed that she had been raped multiple times by the Isha Home School PE teacher in Coimbatore, who took advantage of her innocence and lack of awareness about what was happening. The trauma left deep scars and she tried to commit suicide twice. During her college years, she underwent four years of therapy to process and heal from the abuse.
When my wife learned the truth, she reached out to Senthil Kumar Kanniappan, Jaggi’s PA in the USA, requesting an appointment with Jaggi. However, once she disclosed the reason, Senthil responded days later, saying Jaggi was too busy and leaving for India. He added that Jaggi had already “taken care of it spiritually” and assured her that our daughter would be fine. Unconvinced and shaken by his cold indifference, considering we had dedicated our entire lives to Jaggi, my wife asked Senthil Kumar in deep anguish, “If this had happened to Jaggi’s own daughter, would he have responded the same way?” This infuriated Isha’s inner circle, including Jaggi himself. In retaliation, they called Child Protection Services (CPS) and falsely accused me of molesting my own daughter, a cruel attempt to destroy our family and silence us.
When Jaggi learned that we were approaching authorities and media to seek justice, he leveraged his powerful connections within the Indian government and legal system to suppress the truth and ensure no action was taken against him.
My Boy Was Sexually Abused for 3 Years
I am an advocate from Andhra Pradesh, and for 15 years, both my husband and I were hard core devotees of Jaggi Vasudev. My husband even served as a committee member of the Isha Foundation for Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
We had enrolled our son in the 6th grade at an Isha home school. Initially, everything seemed fine, but over time, we noticed a disturbing change—he was psychologically withdrawing. We didn’t understand why this was happening. By the time our son reached the 10th grade, he sent us an email in distress, pleading for us to take him away immediately. This was during his board exams.
When he returned home during the COVID-19 pandemic, I discovered his diary writings, where he had revealed the sexual abuse he had to endure at the school at the hands of another boy. Initially, we believed it was an isolated incident and assumed that Sadhguru was unaware of it.However, we soon realized that the school management had deliberately kept us in the dark despite multiple complaints from our son.
Our first red flag was the school’s complete inaction. We sent numerous emails to the management, but they never replied. Instead, they only communicated via WhatsApp calls to avoid leaving a digital trail. I insisted on email correspondence, and eventually, they responded.
The higher management finally agreed to speak with us and revealed that the boy who had molested our son came from an influential family. When I asked whether Sadhguru was aware, they confirmed that he had been informed and had given instructions.
I wanted to know what those instructions were. They told me Sadhguru said, “These are psychological issues. We should focus on reforms.” I pointed out that the school housed children aged 7 to 19—who would ensure the safety of these kids if no formal action was taken?
They assured us the boy would not be allowed back, but when our son was in 11th grade, the perpetrator was readmitted due to his elite background. Our son called us again, saying he could not stay there any longer.
Even then, I wanted to believe that Sadhguru might not have known, and the management had made this decision independently. But when I confronted them, they claimed that Sadhguru had already sent the boy away, contradicting their earlier assurance.
Determined to uncover the truth, I joined the school as a volunteer teacher. On my very first day, I witnessed severe mental and verbal abuse. The school lacked qualified teachers, failed to follow board regulations, and had no structured guidelines for administration. There was no complaints committee in place. A committee was only formed on October 9, after the matter reached the Supreme Court. Before that, neither the ashram nor the schools had any grievance redressal mechanism.
The foundation often speaks of Sadhguru’s compassion, especially towards children, yet he never once inquired about our son’s suffering or the tragic death of a 16-year-old student in the campus. The school didn’t even have the decency to send a condolence message to the grieving parents. Jaggi Vasudev never showed any concern for the victims.
Furthermore, most teachers were untrained. While they appeared to have B.Ed. degrees on paper, in reality, volunteers—who underwent no background checks—were regularly presented as teachers. Despite parents paying exorbitant annual fees of ₹5-7 lakhs, volunteers changed frequently, with some leaving within just ten days. Establishing and running a school requires far more care and oversight than this.
The verbal abuse at the school was rampant. I both witnessed and personally experienced it. When we reported the molestation of our son, the management, rather than taking action, initially blamed him. For two years, we sought action and justice, but the management stonewalled us at every turn. Left with no other option, we are now speaking out publicly. However, we remain uncertain whether any police station would dare file a case against the powerful and influential Isha Foundation. Our son studied at Isha Home School in Coimbatore for eight years, from 2014 to 2022.
The Isha Foundation has become a breeding ground for child sexual abuse. Its educational institutions operate arbitrarily, without adhering to any regulatory systems. The Home School Children do not receive proper certification upon completion of their studies. Teachers are unqualified, and many are unpaid volunteers.
I once believed my son’s case was an isolated incident, but I have since realized it is part of a much larger pattern. Official guidelines clearly state that any incidents involving young children must be reported to the police immediately. Instead, the management covered up the abuse. Children at their institutions endure mental and verbal abuse and receive a subpar education from unqualified individuals. There are no redressal mechanisms, no sexual harassment committees, and no safeguards in place to protect the students. The children are not even allowed to call their parents. Their mail and letters are monitored, and any complaints about the school are intercepted and blocked.
While I was at the ashram canteen, I was threatened by two or three unidentified people who warned me, “You could be the next one to go missing. You could have an accident. Watch what you say.” My husband and I question how an organization can be allowed to operate autonomously, without any oversight or accountability. This unchecked power is highly exploitative, and it is time the authorities intervened. Isha Foundation must be held accountable and operate within the legal framework. A thorough, independent investigation is urgently needed. The government must take action.
