What is a Cult?

The word “cult” is commonly used in modern English language in a way that is a departure from the original definition.  “Cult” used to refer to any identifiable group of people practicing a specific belief system, religion, set of customs, etc.  Now the word “cult” is used as a label for groups that the predominant culture sees as counter-culture, dangerous, misguided, fanatical, and usually under the sway of a deranged and charismatic leader.

In this article I would like to shed some light on the subjects of cults, mind-control/brainwashing, and traits of people susceptible to cult influence.  My purpose is to help the reader in discerning whether a group, a spiritual path, a set of spiritual teachings, or a group leader show signs of being a cult.

The negative idea of a cult is not a new phenomenon.  The yoga tradition has been dealing with the arising of strange sects that skew the original teachings in order to take advantage of people for at least 2,800 years.  The ancient texts of the yoga tradition contain sections that describe the qualities of a highly realized teacher in order to develop discriminative wisdom in the student.

As a youth growing up in the New York metropolitan area I was exposed to many large and powerful cults.  In the 1970’s it was impossible to go to the airport without being pounced upon by the Hare Krishnas and the “Moonies” – devotees of the Korean Christian cult leader Sun Myung Moon.  There were many groups vying for members at that time.  Scientologists were always on the sidewalks in New York offering their free testing to see if you were “clear.”

I was amazed that people could be taken so easily by blind faith in a person that claimed to be their only true way.  Observing cults and their leaders for four decades I have noticed a set of characteristics common to cults, their leader(s), and to the people who succumb to their proselytizing.

First, we’ll look at the defining features of a cult.

1. Infallibility of the cult leader(s)

In a cult, the leader or group of people forming the leadership are very often believed to be infallible.  Their supposed infallibility is usually based on some notion that the leader is somehow a direct manifestation of “God” or Ultimate Reality; or they are the appointed spokesperson for God during this era.

But, according the yoga tradition, infallibility is not a trait found in humanity.  All human beings, even our enlightened masters, can be mistaken.  It is a condition of being human.  Enlightenment refers to one’s deeper wisdom; the ability to know the difference between transient phenomena of the object world and that which is not transient such as our essence-nature.  Enlightenment does not confer infallibility.

Many religious groups believe their prophets, leaders, and even books (as in the case of the Abrahamic coalition of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) to be infallible.

The Roman Catholic Church is a prime example of cult infallibility.  It is Catholic doctrine that the Pope, the supreme leader of all Catholics, is infallible in matters of faith because he is God’s voice on earth.  He draws his authority from the apostle Peter who was thought to be the first pope appointed by Jesus.

It is quite easy to take a look at Catholic history to see horrible crimes against humanity committed by papal decree, some still ongoing.  It is obvious from the examples given below that the pope has often erred egregiously in “matters of faith.”

• In the1490’s the Pope issued a papal bull stating that the natives of the continent of South America were to be forcefully converted for their own good, and that it was better for their souls to die while being converted than to live outside the church.  Of course, this led to the massacre of multitudes of natives.  Could anyone imagine this action being a divine decree?
• Presently, we can see the doctrine of papal infallibility and the damage it causes through an examination of the Church’s unwavering stance on contraception.  As Africa is decimated by the HIV/AIDS epidemic (in some countries over 50% of the population is HIV positive with an average life expectancy under 38 years!) the Pope still teaches of the evils of contraception and condoms.  Speaking for God? – I think not.

We’ve looked at the Catholic Church as an example of cult leader infallibility.  Mainstream religions tend to escape the cult label but as we have just seen, most of them would be easily described by infallibility of the leader and the following characteristics.

The more obvious examples of Jim Jones, Reverend Moon, and others like them clearly fall into the cult category of infallibility.  And in the case of Jones, his supposed infallible/divine status led directly to the tragic deaths of 900 of his followers – men, women, and children.

It is time to leave behind the dangerous faith-based paths that promise rewards or realities that cannot be manifested in the here and now through practice.  I am pleased to say that my Indian and Tibetan teachers never posed as infallible, and in fact taught me just the opposite.  An advanced state of spiritual cultivation does not include infallibility.  It is simply not an issue.

So we are warned to be wary of people claiming infallibility, no matter how great they may seem to be in their spiritual and secular lives.  The true Yoga-Tantra tradition embraces humanity with its exceptional creativity and weaknesses, such as fallibility.

2. The cult or its leader(s) possess the Ultimate Truth

One of the most compelling selling points of a cult is that the cult declares they alone know the real God or the way to Ultimate knowledge, or that their leader is in possession of this Ultimate Truth.

The modern religions that came out of the Middle-East are still at war over possession of the Ultimate Truth, and the “Holy Land” itself which belongs only to the rightful possessors of this “Truth.”  They each believe that they alone have this knowledge and that by being part of this sect of “chosen ones” they are “special,” “saved,” and “closer to God.”

And it is not only the mainstream Middle-Eastern religions that espouse this doctrine.  The big three (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) also have esoteric spin-offs sects which can qualify as cults.  An example is a group in Melbourne, Australia that practices Kabala, the esoteric tradition of Judaism.  The rabbi who leads this group says that Kabala is open to all people to know God completely, but… “Jewish souls” are special and innately closer to God.

And I’ve met many members of eastern sects who also believe they know the real identity of God and because of that they have special access to God by virtue of belonging to a particular sect.  One woman came into my center in Sydney, Australia to tell me that her guru is the only one in the world who knows God’s real name and that without knowing his real name you could not become one with him and would eternally wander in delusion.

The Hare Krishna movement (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) functions in a very similar way to a fundamentalist Christian sect (which its founder modeled it after on his first trip to the United States).  To the Krishnas, the ultimate savior is Krishna and all one need to do to be saved is to recognize him as such and constantly remember his name.  This will sound familiar to people raised in Protestant Christian sects.  The Hare Krishnas even have a book that supposedly comes from God and “proves” their claims (the Bhagavad Gita – which they grossly misinterpret to support their fundamentalist view).

In contrast, the great virtue of authentic Yoga-Tantra and especially the tradition of the Mahasiddhas, is the belief that all authentic sects based on Veda, Tantra, or Yoga lead one to the Ultimate Truth, which is the source of everyone, is uncreated, and is inherent in all beings, waiting to be recognized.  The ancient Indian traditions (Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, Sikh) teach that the Ultimate Truth is who you are, and it is a type of amorphous all-pervading potentiality of Loving-Awareness rather than a special God you know or have special access to.

The teaching of Kashmir Saivite Tantra tell us that the ultimate destination for all sentient beings is the same – we will all be enlightened by returning to our Source, and the one who has “special access” to their Source is the one who actively pursues the path – the one who puts forth self-effort.  It is taught that we are all inherently at one with the Ultimate – our Source – but that it does take effort to realize and embody this truth.

Saivite Tantra teaches that we are attracted to a spiritual path due to our karmas (our specific set of previous conditioning which compels our preferences and actions).  And that even if we are attracted to a path that declares they are the only “true way” – eventually we will awaken to a wider view and accept that all others’ views and ways as valid entry points to the One Source we all possess (or arise from).

Sometimes newcomers to Yoga-Tantra can misunderstand a teaching because the wording in English resembles some aspect of their former religion.  When a Yoga-Tantra guru is explaining knowledge of the Ultimate Truth and how to realize that Ultimate Truth through tantrik methods of meditation they are not saying that they alone possess the Ultimate Truth or the only way to that Ultimate Truth.  The Yoga-Tantra guru is describing our own inherent nature, which is the same for all sentient beings.  The meditation methods used to realize our essential nature are not said to be the best in comparison to other methods used by other sects. Rather it is understood that that if you are practicing the meditations of Yoga-Tantra instead of some other method, that it is your karma to have this preference.

In summation – no group, no sect, no leader is in possession of Ultimate Truth to which others do not have access.  Anyone who says otherwise self-qualifies for cult status.

Infallibility of the leader(s) and solo possession of the Ultimate Truth are the two qualifiers that apply to the teachings of the cult and its leadership.

Now I’d like to turn our attention to the cult mindset and examine some cult characteristics expressed in the behavior and thinking of the membership.

1. Isolation and segregation of the sect through xenophobia and/or a superiority complex.

The members of cults are often taught that they are special or superior to others.  They are often brainwashed to believe that they are only safe amongst each other or that since all other people are wrong or dangerous in their view, they should not associate with them for fear of being contaminated by the “outsiders” wrong ideas.

There is often a restriction on what materials a student may study and with whom they may associate.  Quite often the cult member is forbidden to be with their family.

This leads to the classic cult characteristic of keeping to themselves – segregation.  Though group isolation in itself does not define a cult it is often used to preserve the identity of a cult.  Isolationism prevents the infiltration of “dangerous ideas” into the cult.

Tantrik Yoga especially runs contrary to this in that Tantra is very syncretic and absorbs everything it finds useful from traditions it comes into contact with.

Also, Tantra as a spiritual path in particular is especially inclusive.  The masters of the early Tantrik tradition wrote and taught extensively about transcending all types of social segregation.  Tantra is anti-caste, anti-elitist, and anti-misogynistic, (more accurately, pro-feminist).

Therefore, real Tantra which embraces the world and humanity is not segregationist or xenophobic.

2. Poor Discrimination

From my observations of cults it appears that the cult member must be disempowered in a fundamental way that prevents healthy discrimination.  It not only takes a charismatic leader, a special doctrine, and proselytizing to create a cult – the cult would be nothing without highly suggestible people to brainwash.

Unfortunately, some people don’t want responsibility for their life and decision making, and they choose to join cults because it is easy to follow the herd.

But for others, susceptibility to “cult-think” can come from the member not having a strong sense of self.  The cult member has very little to no sense of their authentic personality and its needs, desires, strengths and weaknesses.  A person with a disintegrated personality is an easy mark for a cult because the cult supplies the identity that our self-image mechanism (ahamkara) so desperately needs.  Cult members are not encouraged to develop their strong, individual sense of self, personality, and purpose in life.

Tantrik Yoga on the other hand teaches that the path of Tantra is impossible to traverse without a strong, clear sense of self and that self’s needs, desires, strengths, and weaknesses.  Tantrik methods expand the creative power and discriminative awareness of the student to bring out each person’s unique expression of enlightenment.

With a strong sense of self the student can exercise discrimination to discern whether a potential path or teacher smells of cult.  Without discrimination the student is a victim waiting for a perpetrator.

This is why it is recommended that a person utilize psychotherapy or hatha yoga before they learn Tantra if they have issues of co-dependency, poor self-esteem, lack of authentic personality, or fantasies about the spiritual path and its purpose.

I have also observed a strange type of susceptibility to cults in the hyper-academically oriented person.  Two famous writers on Yoga, Tantra and the enlightenment path in general whom I know, were previously involved in a cult with a leader who said, “There has never been, nor will there ever be a more powerful manifestation of God on earth than me.  All you must do is surrender to me and you are saved.”  How could these intelligent men, well-trained in the metaphysics of India and Tibet, fall for such a narcissistic megalomaniac?

I’ve found that if a cult leader is very intelligent and has a super-charged personality, that academic types are easily put in doubt because their intelligence lacks the discrimination that wisdom gives.  Their intellect meets a rational argument that they can’t fault and because of this they fall in with a teacher/cult that is obviously coercing, manipulating, and actually harming students.

So, we all need good discrimination based on our essence to avoid being susceptible to cult brainwashing and point of view.

3. The Desire to Belong

Many cult members exhibit a strong desire to belong to a group.  They crave intimacy, acceptance, affection, and positive re-enforcement that they possibly did not receive from family, friends, and school during their important years of social and personal development.

This causes the strong, irrational, and highly emotional attachment to the cult leader and the members.  The truth is that it is not the fault of an authentic teacher of Tantrik-Yoga if students show up who lack a clear sense of self and the discrimination and ability to self-nourish/self-love.

These students make an authentic situation into their “personal cult” through their sycophantic orientation.  Their need for group acceptance and love, etc. is satisfied by using the spiritual community to get these needs filled.  All of the authentic communities of Tantrik Yoga that I have visited around the world have this type of student mixed in with the students who are very clearly self-possessed.  And due to their inherent weakness of personality the needy student cannot self-reflect and remove themselves from Tantrik practice and get the psychotherapy they need.

This is a difficult and basically unavoidable situation because the last two points depend on the student – not the teacher or the group.

4. The Cult Member Needs/Wants to be Told What To Do

Due to the above-mentioned characteristics the person who is susceptible to the cult mentality is not in a position to successfully navigate the details of their life.  Thus, the cult leader or the appointed spokespersons/hierarchy is often in a position of telling the members what to do and how to live.  It is not so in the authentic tradition of Tantrik-Yoga.  A true guru never tells a student what do and just as my guru never told me how to live my life, I never tell students what they should or should not do, but rather I seek to enable them to cultivate the skills, discrimination, and wisdom to make their own responsible choices.  The path of Tantrik-Yoga is not possible without the student’s claim of 100% responsibility for their life choices, direction, and consequences.

This concludes a basic overview of what constitutes a cult from the Tantrik perspective.  I hope that this information is useful and helps potential students of any tradition to decide whether, 1. they are fit for spiritual practice (meaning, psychologically self-possessed), and, 2. whether or not the group and leader they are deciding to get involved with is interested only in their benefit.

It may be best for the newcomer to follow the advice I give potential students of our tradition: take 2 or 3 years to check out the school, the teacher and the student-body.  Attend teachings without making any commitment during that time.  Weigh the school against others that you are currently investigating and when you feel sufficiently self-possessed and have made a wise discriminative choice of a school enter the practice with a happy heart that you have found your spiritual path.

May all beings be free.

-Dharmanidhi