The Abode of Yoga

In the wake of the attacks of September 11, 2001, many small businesses in New York failed, including The Blue Lotus . It hadn't helped any that Guru refused to visit the store himself, declared he'd never give the place a spiritual name, and forbade his close female disciples from patronizing it. Nirbachita had sunk what for a disciple was a fortune in inheritance to start up the beautiful little cafe in the upscale Queens neighborhood of Forest Hills. The one-two punch of the economic downturn and Guru's lack of support (to put it nicely) destroyed any chance for success The Blue Lotus may have had. That's not to say that there weren't disciples who supported Nirbachita and her cafe. There were. A handful of guys and gals helped her build and stock the cafe, and supported it throughout. Among them was Pinak . From his station at Guru Health Foods -- where he was then acting as a day-to-day manager -- Pinak ordered supplies and called regularly to offer his help a...

Where to begin? Perhaps, as Joan Didion did with such great effect in her wonderful book The Year of Magical Thinking , I should start over again at the beginning of this memoir and start peeling away another layer of the proverbial onion. For me, this memoir began with Guru’s death on October 11, 2007. I’ve already recounted my initial reaction to that news and my subsequent trip to New York in the ensuing days with my brother, Jeevan . I didn’t report everything that happened on that trip though. There was a minor to-do about the fact that my sister’s boyfriend didn’t make the trip to see Guru one last time. I didn’t report that part of the story in my earlier posts because it just didn’t seem relevant to my story at the time I was writing. Now, though, I think it might be a good jumping off point. My sister – Nirbachita – didn’t attend Guru’s memorial services. And why should she have? Guru had treated her like shit. (I addressed some of these issues here and here .) At the time o...

I'm deeply ambivalent about re-opening the blog. A recent revelation, however, compels it. A female disciple -- a woman I know, trust, and whom I was indirectly responsible for bringing to the Center in the first place -- has reported that Guru pressed her into engaging in sex acts with another disciple. This is a shame. Before I write anything further, though, I want to first say how deeply impressed I am of my friend (who still remains publicly nameless). As I told her personally, I'm very proud of her and the strength of character she has demonstrated by telling her story  (and allowing my sister to publish it). I see this new series of posts as an opportunity to explore some important issues that I had planned on addressing in the blog the first time around, but for reasons I'll address later, I did not. I expect that some -- if not all -- of these posts will disappoint some of my readers, including some whom I consider friends. For this I am sorry.  Photo credit to Jam...