Introduction
There is a saying that walking the path of tantra is like
walking on the edge of a razor: the path is narrow between the forces of
rejection and attachment/desires. We will show why the self-made guru Gregorian
Bivolaru (GB) did fall down because of attachment and desires.
Many organisations did extensive research into guru GB and his MISA (Mission
for Integrating the Self in the Absolute) cult. Recently there have been
podcasts from Germany, UK, Denmark, Sweden and Portugal and the documentary
“Twisted Yoga” which was a worldwide streaming hit. Extensive reports,
background information and testimonials have also been published on the
atmancultalert website and the exmisa blog. It is time to draw some objective
conclusions from all this information and since they claim to be a traditional
tantra lineage lets also look at this cult from a real tantric perspective.
Common story
It is remarkable how similar the testimonials of the girls
who speak out are: Girls are drawn into yoga classes out of genuine interest
and claim the classes are great. Then they join other events like tantra
classes/retreats, Shakti groups, etc where they learn more about opening up and
releasing sexual inhibition. Ultimately they join the Miss Shakti contest or
Shakti villa during the summer camp in Romania where they have to release all
inhibitions joining orgies where they drink each other’s urine.
After this sophisticated training program they get invited to “meet” the guru
GB in Paris.
Again they go through an indoctrination program watching porn for days before
they finally have hours long sex with the guru ending with drinking each other’s
urine. They describe the guru as an angry old man who scolds at them when they
make mistakes and threatens them if they do not follow his will.
The girls are not properly informed what is going to happen before they go to
all these events. Boundaries are simply pushed further on step at a time.
On top of this most of them are also exploited doing “karma yoga” as cam girls
on video chat sites or giving tantra massages in their “temples”.
It is clearly a system of coercion where most of the followers believe it is
all a divine process and they are actively supporting the functioning of this
system by putting pressure on each other to follow along with it and surrender.
But not everyone is happy, there have been now a couple of dozen girls who have
spoken out publicly about the abuse or even rape they experienced by guru GB.
Knowing that only less than 10% of the women in this world speak out about
abuse, we can conclude there must be at least hundreds of girls that were
abused by guru GB.
Comparing Misa to real Tantra
The most thorough study into traditional tantra was probably
done by David Gordon White in his book: “Kiss of the yogini, Tantric sex in its
South Asian contexts”.
Since GB and Misa claim to teach traditional tantra, let’s see how it really
compares.
The trademark of tantra in Misa is all about sexual
continence: men should not ejaculate. But David Gordon White claims this was
never part of traditional tantra where sexual practice was all about the
release and consumption of male and female sexual fluids. David Gordon White
claims that only in very recent times, non-tantric traditions (vedic, vedanta,
ascetic) started to borrow certain things from the tantric traditions. They
developed their own sexual practices to test their level of detachment where
non-ejaculation was seen as a proof of detachment.
But this is very different from what is practiced at Misa. And even the guru GB
shows he is very much attached because he gets angry when he doesn’t get what
he wants.
Non-attachment is not part of Misa style tantra. For that reason we can
conclude that the Misa tantra is a form of neo-tantra: A new invention.
Misa claims the urine drinking rituals are traditional and
are coming from the Damar Tantra. But in the Damar Tantra no sexual activity is
described, it only describes the practice of auto-urine-therapy: Drinking your
morning urine as a way to get rid of illnesses.
There are other tantric practices known where the waste products of the human
body are consumed. They seem to be designed to overcome the conditioning of
your mind between what is pure and impure. But Misa doesn’t teach that, they
have an obsession with purification and are for sure not teaching to go beyond
conditioning. The Misa world is all about pure vs impure, good vs evil.
Like David Gordon White shows in his research, traditional tantra is all about
the consumption of semen and vaginal secretions after climax. But since climax
is forbidden in Misa, guru GB seems to have invented this new practice of
drinking each other’s urine instead.
Again it shows it is neo-tantra, a new invention. It doesn’t mean that this
practice is useless, but so far none of the Misa followers have reached
complete realisation, so it is for sure not very effective.
Another famous ritual, maithuna, is also twisted in Misa. Traditionally, as part of the 5 M’s, you have to consume alcohol, fish and red meat. But GB doesn’t approve of these things and substituted them with hydromel, seaweed and mushrooms. All fine but don’t call it traditional, they are again new inventions and not as effective because you are stepping out of resonance with the tantric lineage. But GB and Misa have no connection with any lineage anyway.
Misa has a strong hierarchy with the guru on top of the
pyramid. GB decides about everything that happens in Misa. Then under him are
his oldest students who are now the main teachers, then you get senior teachers
and new teachers and at the bottom the students.
Historically there have been a few “tantric kingdoms” that had similar
hierarchy. But real traditional tantra was practiced in the kula: The family or
the clan, not a pyramid of power. The guru had only the responsibility of
initiation and passing on the lineage. And here guru GB again fails, he never
received a lineage from any teacher or guru. He claims he was initiated by a
woman in Paris, but this is likely a lie because he was already on the radar of
the Romanian secret police when he was 19 years old, it was simply impossible
that he left the country for France.
Misa claims to be in the lineage of Gupta Maha Siddha Yoga, this is a made up
name, there is no such lineage.
Which brings us to the subject of Satya or truth. GB and
Misa have a proven track record of constant lies. They justify it as being
“white lies”, lies that can be justified because of the positive effect they
have. Well that is a lie in itself, because so far all the white lies had an
enormous repercussion on Misa creating all the scandals they are famous for.
True spiritual traditions don’t mess with Satya, you always have to speak the
truth, and you are not even allowed to hide it because it is the absolute truth
that sets you free.
But Misa does exactly the opposite, constantly trying to hide everything and
denying whatever “rumours” spilt over to the outside world. The behaviour of
Misa is a bit like that of a cheating husband where one lie gets him into
trouble so he has to make another lie, over and over again.
Real masters never lie and have nothing to hide, they stand for the truth and
don’t even have to defend themselves because truth always sets them free.
It is clear that the lack of Satya is blocking the Misa cult from evolving and
learning from past mistakes. Since they don't want to be confronted by reality
they end up hiding in illusions like an endless rabbit hole. A quick glance at
their yogaesoteric website shows endless articles about conspiracies and fake
news. They are actively creating a world of illusions for their followers. It
is really a mission for integrating the self in illusions.
A big obsession is the illusion that they are fighting the enemies of the
school, the freemasons and the illuminati. This whole illusion has only one
function: to create bonding between the followers what they call: Fraternity.
People easily bond together when facing a common enemy and guru GB knows this
and uses this principle: He created imaginary enemies. He even faked letters
sent to himself threatening to kill him.
The funny thing is that if GB and Misa would not have kept anything secret, if
they openly showed and told their students and the rest of the world everything
that happens there and why it happens there, they would have had zero issues.
People would raise their eyebrows and say: wow that sounds a bit extreme, but
that would be it. If you know what is happening there you can actually make a
choice for yourself if you want to join and there would have been no violations
of free will.
From this we can conclude that the violation of Satya is the biggest problem of
GB and Misa.
Misa themselves teaches you should only make love with those
who you are truly in love with. But during the initiations done by guru GB it is
clear that his “lovers” don’t always love him. And judging his angry and
aggressive reactions after they made mistakes it is clear that he doesn’t love
them as well. In fact many girls end up leaving the organisation after their
experience with GB. They experienced his unenlightened behaviour and rightly
concluded they were tricked and abused. Even worse, some girls experienced
energy drain with him which indicates sexual vampirism, he steals the vital
energies of the girls. This shows that guru GB is ruled by attachment, not by
love or altruism. This invalidates him as a spiritual master.
It is widely known that many girls in Misa are getting vaginal or breast
cancer, and many of them have died. A very strong indication that the Misa
doctrine is not healthy at all.
The curriculum of the teachings in Misa are a bit of a spiritual
snack bar, they teach a bit of almost everything. GB was once asked by a
student why there is so much. Answering: So you will never get bored. Well that
doesn’t sound like a clear path to realisation. More a path to distractions:
Keep them busy so they will never think of leaving the cult.
True tantric traditions are not like that, they try to minimize distractions
and go straight to the point with clear steps so the path is clear and
effective. In Misa the path is not clear at all, it can go anywhere except the
Absolute.
Explaining Gregorian Bivolaru
Growing up in communist Romania, a society where the secret
security police is spying on everyone and everyone can be both a friend and
enemy at the same time, it is obvious that this shaped Bivolaru in a way where
he learned the tricks of manipulating people. He worked at a post office which
enabled him to send letters to other countries, but it also brought him on the
radar of the secret security police who discovered his obsession with porn
magazines.
Having no one to teach him spirituality he got all his information from books.
He was mainly inspired by the works of Mircea Eliade and Julius Evola. Both
authors have promoted a distorted form of eastern spirituality that is strongly
patriarchal, misogynist and even fascist.
Also he spent many years in prison and he has admitted to a yoga teacher once that
he learned many tricks there to manipulate people.
It is very clear that he was not schooled by a realised master but made up his
own tradition out of information he found along the way mixed with all kinds of
other distortions and presenting it as an authentic traditional tantra
tradition. But so far none have achieved realisation and considering this
history, probably no one will.
Guru GB has been hiding since 2004 meaning he has had very little contact with
the outside world. Any human being locked up in an apartment for so long would
get crazy. Looking at GB’s messages to his followers in the last 2 decades
there are clear indications he is indeed slowly losing his mind. Girls describe
him as looking like a dirty old man. His bedroom is also a mess, smelly and not
clean. GB himself uses the saying you can know the trees by its fruits. Well
looking at the fruits of GB we can conclude he is not a realized master and this
all does indeed explain why he fell down because of lust and desire, he didn’t
practice an authentic spiritual path.
Conclusion
The guru and his enablers are still in prison in Paris
awaiting trial. France is probably the only country in the world that has an
“anti-cult” law. This case seems to be an excellent example of an abusive cult.
If this law is indeed effective then a conviction should for sure happen in
this case.
For Misa the best thing would be to let go of GB and start to learn from his
mistakes. Not everything is bad in Misa, many people also have had positive
experiences and benefits. Even the girls who spoke out have admitted that there
were good things happening.
Tantra has been constantly evolving through the centuries. There were many dead
ends in this history also. But like evolution in nature, also tantra traditions
evolved to become more and more effective. Reality will also force Misa to one
day embrace Satya and grow up. And who knows, maybe they become real tantrics
one day if they have the courage to face the absolute truth!