To put it in marketing terms, ShivYog was a positioning disaster. I had joined ShivYog back in 2010. Avdhoot Baba basically talked about stuff that is there in ‘The Secret’ and the law of attraction. Then he also covered stuff from Shaivite philosophy and Advaita Vedanta philosophy. But he was never able to explain how the three mostly incompatible thoughts reconciled with each other. Honestly speaking, the first experience was not so bad. But later I realized that there were too many things wrong with ShivYog.
First of all, there was massive upselling in the Shivirs. A person ended up spending 50% more than the ticket cost on CDs and other useless paraphernalia that attendees were compelled to buy. Second, the identity of Avdhoot Baba remained dubious. That is what happens if the organizational history narratives keep getting changed. For some, he started as a Reiki teacher. For others, he was a student of Bhagwan Nityananda(the 20th century mystic, not the sex offender and conman). And finally, he claimed he is from a lineage of Gurus tracing back to Shankaracharya. Why so dubious? Third, as time passed, the teachings kept getting more obscure and more regressive. Apparently, there were 11 levels of SriVidya(Avdhoot Baba stopped at Level 4). Do people really have the time or need to do so much rigorous Sadhana? And he kept introducing stuff that was absolutely dubious- like the Durga Saptsathi Beej Mantra. Any explanation for the same? A normal seeker comes for peace of mind and not to hear tantrik mumbo-jumbo. To sum up, his one statement contradicted the other. On one hand, you had to develop Inner Strength(the foundation was called that at first). But you also had to buy as many dubious yantras to improve the energy of your house, including a Shree Chakra that was sold at an enormous cost. Then he also introduced a Kisan Shivir, where supposedly crop yields could increase by chanting dubious mantras. And finally, none of his healing techniques worked. Who gave him the title ‘The Father of Healing’?
In reality, Avdhoot Baba was just an extremely greedy person who made money and invested in properties overseas. He is now a citizen of the tax-haven Mauratius. He could hypnotize people and make their minds believe what he wanted them to. Avdhoot Baba has retired after making tons of money from gullible chelas. And his son Ishan has repositioned himself as a corporate trainer. Ishan used to claim that he had once been a practising psychiatrist. In reality, he has barely passed High School. He got away with his large build which made him look older than he actually was.
Now the positives. To give Avdhoot Baba his due, he was never involved in any form of sexual harassment, a plague badly afflicting the Baba industry. He was too much of a family man to do those kinds of things. And he never hobnobbed with any political party or took political favours. In other words, unlike Sri Sri and Sadhguru, he never became a part of the Hindutva movement. Perhaps that led to his downfall.