Gregorian Bivolaru also known as Magnus AurolssonSources for 'Magnus Aurolsson': and nicknamed Grieg, Grig or, by the press, Guru (born 12 March 1952) is a Romanian tantric

yoga guru Modern yoga gurus are people widely acknowledged to be gurus of modern yoga in any of its forms, whether religious or not. The role implies being well-known and having a large following; in contrast to the old guru-shishya tradition, the modern ...

, and the founder of the Movement for Spiritual Integration into the Absolute (MISA). At the age of 18 he began teaching yoga, an activity deprecated by Romania's communist regime. He was twice jailed and once forcibly hospitalized in a psychiatric ward under the regime, which ended in 1989. In 2005 he was charged on counts of sexual exploitation, tax evasion, and crossing the border to escape prosecution; he sought asylum in Sweden, which he was granted in 2006. In 2008 he was expelled from the European Yoga Council. His trial in Romania for human trafficking was postponed many times; charges in another trial were dropped. In 2013, he was sentenced in absentia by Romania's supreme court for sex with a minor. In 2016 he was arrested in France and

extradited In an extradition, one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, into the custody of the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdic ...

to Romania. He was

parole Parole, also known as provisional release, supervised release, or being on paper, is a form of early release of a prisoner, prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated ...

d in 2017 and fled the country, by then wanted by the police in Finland and France for human trafficking. He was arrested and imprisoned in France in 2023. MISA teaches a combination of

yoga Yoga (UK: , US: ; 'yoga' ; ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines that originated with its own philosophy in ancient India, aimed at controlling body and mind to attain various salvation goals, as pra ...

and

tantra Tantra (; ) is an esoteric yogic tradition that developed on the India, Indian subcontinent beginning in the middle of the 1st millennium CE, first within Shaivism and later in Buddhism. The term ''tantra'', in the Greater India, Indian tr ...

. The teachings derive from multiple religious sources such as

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...

Kashmir Shaivism Kashmir Shaivism tradition is a 20th century umbrella-term for a body of Sanskrit learning, Sanskrit exegetical literature from several Nondualism, non-dualist Shaivism, Shaiva-Shaktism, Shakta Tantra, tantric and Monism, monistic religious t ...

, and

Western esotericism Western esotericism, also known as the Western mystery tradition, is a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements that developed within Western society. These ideas and currents are united since they are largely distinct both from orthod ...

. The tantra teaching is oriented towards sexual practices. A principle of polarity is emphasized, with male and female as fundamentally opposite energies of the universe. MISA's practices include purifications, use of

pornography Pornography (colloquially called porn or porno) is Sexual suggestiveness, sexually suggestive material, such as a picture, video, text, or audio, intended for sexual arousal. Made for consumption by adults, pornographic depictions have evolv ...

, and sexual activity between teachers and pupils. Some female students have been taken to France, arriving disoriented and without passports or mobile phones at Bivolaru's apartment, where they had ritualized sex with Bivolaru, and were then taken away and forced to do sex work such as working as

webcam model A webcam model (colloquially, camgirl, camboy, or cammodel) is a video performer who streams on the Internet with a live webcam broadcast. A webcam model often performs erotic acts online, such as stripping, masturbation, or sex acts in exchan ...

s under harsh conditions. It was held to be an honour to have sex with the guru as this denoted spiritual progress. Bivolaru has received hostile treatment in the media in Romania and elsewhere, with descriptions of his beliefs and practices. He has written a book describing

Freemasonry Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

as a satanic conspiracy seeking world domination. He has claimed to have contacted extraterrestrials with healing powers.

Biography

Early life

Gregorian Bivolaru was born in 1952 in

Tărtășești Tărtășești is a commune in the Dâmbovița County, Muntenia, Romania, located northwest of Bucharest. It has a population of 6,158 as of 2021. It is composed of three villages: Bâldana, Gulia, and Tărtășești. The Bucharest–Târgovi ...

Ilfov County Ilfov () is the Counties of Romania, county that surrounds Bucharest, the capital of Romania. It used to be largely rural, but, after the fall of communism, many of the county's villages and communes developed into high-income commuter towns, whi ...

, (now in

Dâmbovița County Dâmbovița County (; also spelt Dîmbovița) is a county () of Romania, in Muntenia, with the capital city at Târgoviște, the most important economic, political, administrative and cultural center of the county. It is a traditional administra ...

), in the

Muntenia Muntenia (, also known in English as Greater Wallachia) is a historical region of Romania, part of Wallachia (also, sometimes considered Wallachia proper, as ''Muntenia'', ''Țara Românească'', and the rarely used ''Valahia'' are synonyms in Ro ...

region of Romania. He completed high school in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

, and joined a predecessor to the

Bucharest Metro The Bucharest Metro () is an underground rapid transit system that serves Bucharest, the capital of Romania. It first opened for service on 16 November 1979. The network is run by Metrorex. One of two parts of the larger Transport in Bucharest, B ...

company as an unskilled labourer in 1971. He began practicing yoga at the age of 17, and began to teach it at the age of 18. He became interested in Eastern spirituality and read

Mircea Eliade Mircea Eliade (; – April 22, 1986) was a Romanian History of religion, historian of religion, fiction writer, philosopher, and professor at the University of Chicago. One of the most influential scholars of religion of the 20th century and in ...

's scholarly writings on yoga, corresponding with the author. He managed to obtain and read books by

Paramahansa Yogananda Paramahansa Yogananda (born Mukunda Lal Ghosh; January 5, 1893March 7, 1952) was an Indian and American Hindu monk, yoga, yogi and guru who introduced millions to meditation and Kriya Yoga school, Kriya Yoga through his organization, Self ...

Sivananda Saraswati Swami Sivananda Saraswati (; 8 September 1887 – 14 July 1963), also called Swami Sivananda, was a yoga guru, a Hindu spiritual teacher, and a proponent of ''Vedanta''. Sivananda was born in Pattamadai, in the Tirunelveli district of mode ...

, and

Ramakrishna Ramakrishna (18 February 1836 – 16 August 1886——— —), also called Ramakrishna Paramahansa (; ; ), born Ramakrishna Chattopadhay,M's original Bengali diary page 661, Saturday, 13 February 1886''More About Ramakrishna'' by Swami Prab ...

, even though these were not readily available in Romania at the time. During the communist regime Bivolaru was kept under observation by the Department of State Security, because he was practicing and teaching yoga, yoga being dissuaded in Romania and barred from public facilities in 1982, in connection with the " Transcendental Meditation scandal". He was jailed twice and forcibly hospitalized in a psychiatric ward once. In 1977, he was arrested on the charge of distributing

and sentenced to one year in prison, but he did not complete it due to an

amnesty Amnesty () is defined as "A pardon extended by the government to a group or class of people, usually for a political offense; the act of a sovereign power officially forgiving certain classes of people who are subject to trial but have not yet be ...

granted for minor convictions by the President of Romania

Nicolae Ceaușescu Nicolae Ceaușescu ( ; ; – 25 December 1989) was a Romanian politician who was the second and last Communism, communist leader of Socialist Romania, Romania, serving as the general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 u ...

on his birthday. On 17 April 1984, he was arrested again for distributing pornographic materials. On 17 August 1989, Bivolaru was arrested again, on the grounds that he was mentally unhinged and a menace to the general public. Prosecutors requested he be hospitalized, which was granted two days later on 19 August 1989 by the sector 1 Tribunal of Bucharest based on a report submitted by National Institute for Legal Medicine (IML). He was sentenced to hospitalization at The Poiana Mare Neuropsychiatry Hospital in Dolj county. In the IML report the diagnosis was

schizoid personality disorder Schizoid personality disorder (, often abbreviated as SzPD or ScPD) is a personality disorder characterized by a lack of interest in social relationships, a tendency toward a solitary or sheltered lifestyle, secretiveness, emotional coldness, ...

and

paranoia Paranoia is an instinct or thought process that is believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety, suspicion, or fear, often to the point of delusion and irrationality. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of co ...

with obsessive-phobic elements. Until 1989 he was constantly on the list of the most dangerous people for the communist regime, being permanently in the sights of the Security, but he never stopped practicing and teaching yoga. His group of yogis is according to

Gabriel Andreescu Gabriel Andreescu is a Romanian human rights activist and political scientist born on 8 April 1952 in Buzău. He is one of the few Romanian dissidents who openly opposed Nicolae Ceaușescu and the Communist regime in Romania. At present, he is p ...

"the only example of long-lasting collective resistance under Nicolae Ceaușescu's regime".

Legal history

In 2005, Bivolaru was charged in Romania on eight counts, including sexual exploitation,

tax evasion Tax evasion or tax fraud is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to red ...

, and illegally crossing the border to escape prosecution. In March 2005, he asked for

asylum Asylum may refer to: Types of asylum * Asylum (antiquity), places of refuge in ancient Greece and Rome * Benevolent asylum, a 19th-century Australian institution for housing the destitute * Cities of Refuge, places of refuge in ancient Judea * ...

in Sweden, claiming that he feared persecution in Romania. On 15 April the Romanian Police issued a second warrant in his name, accusing him of "human trafficking and other charges related to organized crime" (related to an alleged sequestration of people in some

ashram An ashram (, ) is a spiritual hermitage or a monastery in Indian religions, not including Buddhism. Etymology The Sanskrit noun is a thematic nominal derivative from the root 'toil' (< The Swedish Immigration Authority granted Bivolaru political asylum from 2 January 2006. In 2008, Bivolaru and everyone linked to MISA or Natha were expelled from the European Yoga Council, where he had been an honorary member. In 2010, Bivolaru requested damages from the Romanian state for his sentencing to mandatory psychiatric treatment during the Communist regime. On 18 January 2011, Bivolaru's trial was, for the tenth time, postponed again until 23 March 2011, marking his case as one of the longest-running in the Cluj court. This trial for

human trafficking Human trafficking is the act of recruiting, transporting, transferring, harboring, or receiving individuals through force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of exploitation. This exploitation may include forced labor, sexual slavery, or oth ...

is still pending, but the unconstitutionality exceptions invoked by the suspects have been rejected. On 1 July 2011, a Bucharest court issued a ruling recognizing the political nature of the sentences suffered by Bivolaru during the communist period and his internment.Decizia Tribunalului București
din data de 1 July 2011 în dosarul 48765/3/2010 In another 2011 trial, at the Sibiu court, the charges were dropped, partly due to lack of evidence for some charges (evidence was dropped for failing to show that the interceptions were legally mandated), and partly due to exceeding the

statute of limitations A statute of limitations, known in civil law systems as a prescriptive period, is a law passed by a legislative body to set the maximum time after an event within which legal proceedings may be initiated. ("Time for commencing proceedings") In ...

corresponding to the charges.Sources for 'statute of limitations': In 2012, MISA faced allegations of procuring and

forced prostitution Forced prostitution, also known as involuntary prostitution or compulsory prostitution, is prostitution or sexual slavery that takes place as a result of coercion by a third party. The terms "forced prostitution" or "enforced prostitution" app ...

.Sources for 'procuring', 'prostitution', or 'forced prostitution': In 2013, the High Court of Cassation and Justice of Romania convicted and sentenced Bivolaru in absentia to six years in prison, without suspension, for sexual acts with a minor, who said she never had sexual relations with Bivolaru. On the same day, Court Judge Ionuț Matei received a letter threatening him and his family. In 2016, Bivolaru was arrested in France. After extradition from France, he was imprisoned in Romania. He requested a retrial. His six-year term was reduced by one year and three months, since he had already spent this time in detention. Alba Iulia Court of Appeals had rejected Bivolaru's demand for a retrial. In 2017, Bivolaru was released from prison on

. Soon after being paroled, Bivolaru fled the country. He was wanted by the police in Finland and France for human trafficking between 2008 and 2013, for

sexual abuse Sexual abuse or sex abuse is abusive sexual behavior by one person upon another. It is often perpetrated using physical force, or by taking advantage of another. It often consists of a persistent pattern of sexual assaults. The offender is re ...

, and other crimes. In 2023 he was wanted by Interpol for aggravated trafficking in human beings and

sexual assault Sexual assault is an act of sexual abuse in which one intentionally Physical intimacy, sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or Coercion, coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their w ...

at the request of Finland. He was arrested in France on 28 November 2023.Sources for 'arrested in 2023': Bivolaru and five other people belonging to MISA were placed under provisional arrest. They were accused of financial exploitation, under the guise of Tantra (sexual exploitation). Bivolaru thinks he is "the victim of a political conspiracy", who would have retaliated against him for "fighting against a gigantic planetary satanic and freemasonic conspiracy". This has long been the official creed of Bivolaru and MISA. In 2023, MISA faced again allegations of procuring and forced prostitution. He was accused of exploiting female adepts for sexual contacts and luring them into performing in pornography, including by secretly recording them for such purposes. In Finland the charges he faces are punishable with ten years imprisonment. In France he faces charges punishable with 30 years imprisonment. The other five persons still in prison at this time face charges punishable with 15 years imprisonment. He was imprisoned in France in 2023 for what was alleged to be a rape, human trafficking and kidnapping scheme. According to ''

Le Monde (; ) is a mass media in France, French daily afternoon list of newspapers in France, newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average print circulation, circulation of 480,000 copies per issue in 2022, including ...

'', "At the eight locations they visited, the police found 58 women – 51 of Romanian nationality, none French – 'living in difficult conditions, with severe overcrowding and no privacy'". Each woman in the villa of Bivolaru's right-hand man from France had a room of three square meters, and the hygiene conditions were poor. They were malnourished. Many of the women arrested on 28 November 2023 were inebriated. In 2024 German authorities opened an investigation regarding MISA/ATMAN.Sources for 'Germany 2024': The authorities have expressed doubts about the success of such investigation, since Germany does not have the same laws as France. At the end of April 2024, the French authorities arrested the wife of Bivolaru's right-hand man. Bivolaru will receive payment for damages, for a 17-year trial in Romania, a duration which was ruled excessive in 2024. Two of his close associates from the EU were arrested in August or September 2024 (according to different reports) in

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. When they were arrested, they had half million Euro. The article from ''

Marianne Marianne () has been the national personification of the French Republic since the French Revolution, as a personification of liberty, equality, fraternity and reason, as well as a portrayal of the Goddess of Liberty. Marianne is displayed i ...

'' links them and other MISA leaders to an infamous cult, Ashram Shambala from Russia.

Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse (; AFP) is a French international news agency headquartered in Paris, France. Founded in 1835 as Havas, it is the world's oldest news agency. With 2,400 employees of 100 nationalities, AFP has an editorial presence in 260 c ...

said that 15 persons were indicted in 2023 on this matter. the investigation continued, finding brothels linked to Bivolaru/MISA in France, Monaco, and Italy. He faces accusations of

organized crime Organized crime is a category of transnational organized crime, transnational, national, or local group of centralized enterprises run to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally thought of as a f ...

MISA

Official hostility to yoga ended with the

Romanian Revolution of 1989 The Romanian revolution () was a period of violent civil unrest in Romania during December 1989 as a part of the revolutions of 1989 that occurred in several countries around the world, primarily within the Eastern Bloc. The Romanian revoluti ...

. Bivolaru founded the Movement for Spiritual Integration into the Absolute (MISA) as a non-profit association in 1990. MISA currently operates under different names in different countries: Natha in Denmark, Sweden, and Portugal, Tara in the US and UK, and Satya in India. It is also known as the Atman Federation.

Teachings

MISA teaches a combination of

and

. Courses in these two subjects, the "Intensive Yoga Course" (IYC) and "Intensive Tantra Course" (ITC) each span two years, requiring at least two hours a week of home study, and can be taken concurrently. MISA describes its teaching in secular terms, but according to scholar of religion Zdenek Vojtíšek, it demands changes to lifestyle, investment of time, and commitment to the organization more like a religion than a leisure activity. Vojtíšek states that MISA makes itself available socially, while gradually introducing doctrines that it calls secret. The sociologist

Massimo Introvigne Massimo Introvigne (born June 14, 1955) is an Italian sociologist of religion, author, and intellectual property attorney. He is a co-founder and the managing director of the Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR), a Turin-based nonprof ...

states that the teachings derive from many religious sources, including

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

Sufism Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...

Tantra Tantra (; ) is an esoteric yogic tradition that developed on the India, Indian subcontinent beginning in the middle of the 1st millennium CE, first within Shaivism and later in Buddhism. The term ''tantra'', in the Greater India, Indian tr ...

, and

Taoism Taoism or Daoism (, ) is a diverse philosophical and religious tradition indigenous to China, emphasizing harmony with the Tao ( zh, p=dào, w=tao4). With a range of meaning in Chinese philosophy, translations of Tao include 'way', 'road', ' ...

, as well as

Esoteric Christianity Esoteric Christianity is a mystical approach to Christianity which features "secret traditions" that require an initiation to learn or understand. The term ''esoteric'' was coined in the 17th century and derives from the Greek (, "inner"). Th ...

and

. The selected teachings are removed from their cultural and historical contexts and presented as esoteric elements of a single truth. One such element is a belief in benevolent extra-terrestrial aliens. Introvigne states that the core of MISA's teaching is Tantrism, especially that of the medieval

philosopher

Abhinavagupta Abhinavagupta (Devanāgarī अभिनवगुप्तः; c. 950 – 1016 CE) was a philosopher, mystic and aesthetician from Kashmir. He was also considered an influential musician, poet, dramatist, exegete, theologian, and logicianR ...

The Intensive Yoga Course material is a text containing diverse materials. Yoga is defined as "a traditional, practical, and philosophical system" deriving from

Patanjali Patanjali (, , ; also called Gonardiya or Gonikaputra) was the name of one or more author(s), mystic(s) and philosopher(s) in ancient India. His name is recorded as an author and compiler of a number of Sanskrit works. The greatest of these a ...

's ''Yoga Sutras''. The yoga teacher and scholar of religion Tova Olsson states that it is illustrated with poetry, Indian proverbs, "quasi-scientific drawings", and photographs of "photos of young men and women (in their underwear) performing āsanas". She comments that Patanjali is described as "holy", while the word "traditional" in her view emphasizes the essential form of Patanjali's yoga, while the text stresses the goal of attaining perfection through the practice. She adds that the words "authenticity" and "secret" are used repeatedly at the start, indicating that students will be initiated into "a great mystery" only available through MISA. Students are asked to take up a lactovegetarian diet, and to practice fasting. The Intensive Tantra Course defines tantra as a "set of methods and instruments ... intended to obtain the expansion of consciousness or ... to create a network of conscious connections between elements of reality". It calls tantra "more famous than known", describing it variously as metaphysics, physics, science, and spirituality. The text dismisses the "Western" use of tantra's sexual techniques, but has in Olsson's words "an obvious (and original, as promised) leaning towards sexual practices." It is illustrated with paintings and photographs, usually one on each page of text. These begin with a painting of deities embracing in the Yab-Yum posture, and "become increasingly daring" as the course progresses. The photographs portray people in the Yab-Yum posture or in "orgasmic embrace", followed by "photos of naked, white, slender women with oiled skin and large breasts", often lying down in a natural setting; Olsson states that Bivolaru's book is similarly illustrated. Both courses state a "law of resonance", with frequencies in the environment matching those within the yoga practitioner as a "law that governs the whole manifestation", since according to MISA the universe consists of vibrations. Olsson traces the idea that everything is vibrations, along with occult concepts such as "

as above, so below "As above, so below" is a popular modern paraphrase of the second verse of the ''Emerald Tablet,'' a short Hermetica, Hermetic text which first appeared in an Arabic source from the late eighth or early ninth century. The paraphrase is based on ...

" and the universality of gendered opposites to the 1908 esoteric book ''

The Kybalion ''The Kybalion'' (full title: ''The Kybalion: A Study of the Hermetic Philosophy of Ancient Egypt and Greece'') is a book originally published in 1908 by "Three Initiates" (often identified as the New Thought pioneer William Walker Atkinson, 186 ...

'', likely written by

William Walker Atkinson William Walker Atkinson (December 5, 1862 – November 22, 1932) was an attorney, merchant, publisher, and writer, as well as an occultist and an American pioneer of the New Thought movement. He is the author of the pseudonymous works attribute ...

. She suggests that MISA uses the law of resonance to mean that "likeminded people attract", and conversely that students should avoid the influence of people of "lower frequency". In line with this, the IYC calls the

chakra A chakra (; ; ) is one of the various focal points used in a variety of ancient meditation practices, collectively denominated as Tantra, part of the inner traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism. The concept of the chakra arose in Hinduism. B ...

s of the

subtle body A subtle body is a "quasi material" aspect of the human body, being neither solely physical nor solely spiritual, according to various Western esotericism, esoteric, occultism, occult, and mysticism, mystical teachings. This contrasts with th ...

"resonators"; the right use of these supposedly enables students to gain

supernatural powers Supernatural phenomena or entities are those beyond the laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin 'above, beyond, outside of' + 'nature'. Although the corollary term "nature" has had multiple meanings since the an ...

. The IYC advocates hatha yoga purifications such as washing the nose with salt water, later moving on to

asana An āsana (Sanskrit: आसन) is a body posture, originally and still a general term for a sitting meditation pose,Verse 46, chapter II, "Patanjali Yoga sutras" by Swami Prabhavananda, published by the Sri Ramakrishna Math p. 111 and late ...

s, such as

shavasana Shavasana (; ), Corpse Pose, or Mritasana, is an asana in hatha yoga and modern yoga as exercise, often used for relaxation at the end of a session. It is the usual pose for the practice of yoga nidra meditation, and is an important pose in Rest ...

and

Bhujangasana Cobra Pose or Bhujangasana (; IAST: ) is a reclining back-bending asana in hatha yoga and modern yoga as exercise. It is also performed in a cycle of asanas in Surya Namaskar, Salute to the Sun, as an alternative to Urdhva Mukha Svanasana, Upwar ...

, one at a time: Olsson comments that this contrasts sharply with the many asanas practised in a typical session of

yoga as exercise Yoga as exercise is a physical activity consisting mainly of asana, postures, often connected by vinyasa, flowing sequences, sometimes accompanied by pranayama, breathing exercises, and frequently ending with savasana, relaxation lying down or ...

. These are related to specific chakras and attributed specific physical or quasi-medical benefits, as well as spiritual benefits and the ability to control sexual energy. Knowledge of the chakras is described as secret, belied, Olsson notes, by the ready availability of materials and courses on them, perhaps leading the way towards acceptance of abusive behaviour. The ITC teaches the principle of polarity, between the male deity

Shiva Shiva (; , ), also known as Mahadeva (; , , Help:IPA/Sanskrit, ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐh and Hara, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the God in Hinduism, Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions w ...

and the female

Shakti Shakti (Devanagari: शक्ति, IAST: Śakti; 'energy, ability, strength, effort, power, might, capability') in Hinduism, is the "Universal Power" that underlies and sustains all existence. Conceived as feminine in essence, Shakti refer ...

, his consort. These are presented as opposites, constituting a fundamental principle of energy in the universe. Along with more photographs and drawings of naked men and women, the text introduces the concept of '' ojas'' or "fluid light" as the "seminal energy of man" in male and female sexual fluids. Olsson summarizes MISA's teachings as "an eclectic religious worldview, where yogic techniques and Bible passages intermingle with disciplined life-choices, nudity, a sense of exclusivity and a fair share of

gender essentialism Gender essentialism is a theory which attributes distinct, intrinsic qualities to women and men. Based in essentialism, it holds that there are certain universal, innate, biologically (or psychologically) based features of gender that are at the ro ...

." The teachings are supported with quotations from authority figures, nearly all men, from

Pythagoras Pythagoras of Samos (; BC) was an ancient Ionian Greek philosopher, polymath, and the eponymous founder of Pythagoreanism. His political and religious teachings were well known in Magna Graecia and influenced the philosophies of P ...

Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher ('' philosophe''), writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects ...

and

Sivananda Swami Sivananda Saraswati (; 8 September 1887 – 14 July 1963), also called Swami Sivananda, was a yoga guru, a Hindu spiritual teacher, and a proponent of '' Vedanta''. Sivananda was born in Pattamadai, in the Tirunelveli district of mo ...

. The stress on secrecy, too, she notes, is belied by published translations of

hatha yoga Hatha yoga (; Sanskrit हठयोग, International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ''haṭhayoga'') is a branch of yoga that uses physical techniques to try to preserve and channel vital force or energy. The Sanskrit word ह� ...

texts such as the '' Haṭha Yoga Pradīpikā'' and the '' Gheraṇḍa Saṃhitā''.

Practices

Across the organization

In 2009, Finnish broadcasting company

Yle Yleisradio Oy (; ), abbreviated as Yle () (formerly styled in all uppercase until 2012), translated into English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, founded in 1926. It is a joint-stock comp ...

aired a program on MISA and Bivolaru, interviewing ex-Natha members. Natha is described as being rooted in the MISA movement. The interviewees described controversial activities like vomiting for purification, the use of pornography, and sexual relations between teachers and pupils. A representative of Finnish Natha commented that sex is always a matter between the two persons. Seppo Isotalo, a human rights activist who tried to help MISA in confrontation with Romanian authorities, described MISA as having "all the characteristics of a cult: one truth, one leader, and it isolates the dissident." In 2011 MISA was involved in a scandal in Argentina described as "porno-yoga". In 2012 MISA was involved in a sexual slavery scandal in Italy, but 10 years later no prosecutions had been brought. The lengthy trial of MISA members on charges of "Trafficking in human beings and conspiracy to commit crimes", which took place in Romania, was concluded after 17 years. Nobody was found guilty. Equally, by 2021 there had been no official charges of pimping. MISA has been described as "a group reminiscent of the Mafia and pimping disguised as philosophy", and as

. It is organized compartmentally, according to a general operating principle of organized crime.Sources for 'operating principle': Some MISA ashrams close to Bivolaru, hidden from the main teaching schools, are said to function as

brothel A brothel, strumpet house, bordello, bawdy house, ranch, house of ill repute, house of ill fame, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in Human sexual activity, sexual activity with prostitutes. For legal or cultural reasons, establis ...

s, while the journalist Bogdan Comaroni stated that children born in ashrams are sometimes sold to

pedophiles Pedophilia ( alternatively spelled paedophilia) is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Although girls typically begin the process of pubert ...

.Sources for Comaroni's views: Comaroni stated that many local politicians, policemen and prosecutors from Romania were clients of MISA prostitutes. According to Comaroni, Bivolaru built a real estate financial empire based on

pimp Procuring, pimping, or pandering is the facilitation or provision of a prostitute or other sex worker in the arrangement of a sex act with a customer. A procurer, colloquially called a pimp (if male) or a madam (if female, though the term "pimp" ...

ing and

money laundering Money laundering is the process of illegally concealing the origin of money obtained from illicit activities (often known as dirty money) such as drug trafficking, sex work, terrorism, corruption, and embezzlement, and converting the funds i ...

. In 2014, Bivolaru earned four million euros from annual membership fees. In December 2023, MISA counted a hundred thousand adepts worldwide. Another source in 2024 said it had 40,000 adepts in 34 countries.

Sex with Bivolaru

In 2023 Bivolaru and MISA were involved in a sexual slavery and human trafficking scandal in France. 30 years prison sentences were on the table. In France, various women were deprived of passports, of mobile phones, they were transported blindfolded so that they would not know where they were, they were rarely allowed to communicate with their parents, and then only under supervision, they were forced to sign formal statements that they had sex and viewed porn of their own free will, and they were allowed no clothes except for women's underwear. A witness interviewed by RTL confirms such reports: in one year since joining MISA she had to perform sex work. A witness interviewed by the BBC reported the same treatment in Paris. This began with days waiting in a blacked-out room in Bivolaru's apartment and seeing other women in states of distress. Once called to Bivolaru's bedroom, sex began with a consecration ritual, lengthy foreplay by Bivolaru, seven penetrative sex positions, each supposedly mapped to one of the seven

s, and forced drinking of urine directly from the

urethra The urethra (: urethras or urethrae) is the tube that connects the urinary bladder to the urinary meatus, through which Placentalia, placental mammals Urination, urinate and Ejaculation, ejaculate. The external urethral sphincter is a striated ...

. This was immediately followed by supervised transportation from Paris to Prague, with six months forced work in the "Garden of Miracles" as an erotic

under harsh conditions. There were fines for offences as minor as leaving the refrigerator door open or a plate unwashed. A

Vice A vice is a practice, behaviour, Habit (psychology), habit or item generally considered morally wrong in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character trait, a defect, an infirmity, or a bad or unhe ...

article reports that "as a MISA female member, it was an honour to have sex with guru Gregorian, because it meant positive

karma Karma (, from , ; ) is an ancient Indian concept that refers to an action, work, or deed, and its effect or consequences. In Indian religions, the term more specifically refers to a principle of cause and effect, often descriptively called ...

and spiritual progress". The BBC confirms that sex with Gregorian was held to "burn adkarma". One woman they interviewed said that she felt repulsed by him, but accepted having sex, telling herself according to her MISA training that "this is a spiritual master – transfigure him ith tantric sex" Bivolaru and MISA are fiercely against

homosexual Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" exc ...

ity, but they have no objection to

lesbianism A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homo ...

, which they even promote during Tantric initiation: underage virgins first had to submit to sex with women before having sex with Bivolaru. One woman stated in court that she was sexually exploited by Bivolaru, losing her virginity to him while she was only 15. Before being deflowered by Bivolaru she was allegedly initiated through "lesbian acts with a dozen other women". A German witness described how Bivolaru raped a 16-year-old Hungarian girl.

Analysis

Validity of mental health diagnoses

The validity of Bivolaru's mental health diagnoses has been debated. A psychologist friend of Bivolaru, when asked by a young girl in 1993 about attending Bivolaru's courses, advised her to stay clear of him because he was a "psychopath". In 2012 two courts acknowledged that Bivolaru was sentenced and jailed for political reasons during the communist regime. Cecilia Tiz, a yoga teacher formerly associated with MISA, stated in 2016 that "Bivolaru is a sick man who needs therapy". During his 2016 extradition procedures, Bivolaru pleaded irresponsible by reason of being

legally insane The insanity defense, also known as the mental disorder defense, is an affirmative defense by excuse in a criminal case, arguing that the defendant is not responsible for their actions due to a psychiatric disease at the time of the criminal act ...

,Sources for 'pleaded legally insane': although the French court refused to pass judgment upon his being insane, since that was not germane to extradition procedures. One of his lawyers publicly declared at the time of the trial that "He has become paranoid, he is fearful of everything." However, the doctor at Poiana Mare in charge of Bivolaru, Leonard Hriscu, declared that "Gregorian Bivolaru was not a man in need of psychiatric treatment." Bivolaru has stated that he was unfairly persecuted, just as

Jesus Christ Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

was unjustly crucified.Sources for 'Jesus Christ': In 2023, he was acquitted after 17 years of trial. The name "Operation Christ" was given to the case by prosecutors. The French newspaper

Libération (), popularly known as ''Libé'' (), is a daily newspaper in France, founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968 in France, May 1968. Initially positioned on the far left of Fr ...

took his comparison of himself with Jesus Christ is evidence of

megalomania Megalomania is an obsession with power, wealth, fame, and a passion for grand schemes. Megalomania or megalomaniac may also refer to: Psychology * Grandiose delusions * Narcissistic personality disorder * Omnipotence (psychoanalysis), a stage ...

In the media

In the 1990s and the 2000s, there was a media campaign in Romania against Bivolaru and MISA, which Romanian journalist

Ion Cristoiu Ion Cristoiu (; born 16 November 1948, Găgești, Vrancea County) is a conservative Romanian journalist, writer, and political analyst. Career He was editor-in-chief of the daily '' Evenimentul Zilei'' during its heyday in the 1990s, when t ...

and professor

regarded as persecution; Andreescu said it was sensationalism to sell newspapers, while Cristoiu suspected that the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

was aiming to appease conservative voters. Bivolaru flirted with the purportedly Hindu myth of having sex with a thousand virgins, hoping to reach the heights of spiritual power.Sources for 'sex with a thousand virgins': An article in

Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers ...

called MISA a "dangerous personality cult", stating that Bivolaru had led "hundreds of vulnerable women" into making hard-core porn videos, leaving their husbands, or working as prostitutes and strippers. It stated that the purpose of this was to "liberat the female body", allowing participants to commune with the "Divine Goddess." It further reported that Bivolaru and others in the MISA hierarchy had "sex with underage girls, some in their early teens", and that young women did "karma yoga", meaning that they were sent to countries such as Japan "to work as pole dancers and strippers." In one of his books, Bivolaru claims

is a satanic conspiracy trying to achieve world domination via the establishment of a world masonic government, a world kingdom, as well as a unique world religion. Bivolaru claims to have contact with extraterrestrials who have healing powers and they will help humanity during its "difficult moments". His publications have been described as "conspiracy theory writings having paranoid ideas". Bivolaru gained a bad reputation in Romania in the 1990s, through advising his adepts to drink urine, both as

urine therapy Urine therapy or urotherapy, (also urinotherapy, Shivambu, uropathy, or auto-urine therapy) in alternative medicine, and Amaroli in medieval hatha yoga, is the application of human urine for medicinal or cosmetic purposes, including urophagia, ...

and as

paraphilia A paraphilia is an experience of recurring or intense sexual arousal to atypical objects, places, situations, fantasies, behaviors, or individuals. It has also been defined as a sexual interest in anything other than a legally consenting human ...

, while the scholar of religion Zdeněk Vojtíšek says that is a vanilla mystical ritual in some religions.Sources for 'drinking urine': Vojtíšek stated in 2018 that Bivolaru sexually initiates women in an atmosphere of secrecy and drinking urine, but concluded that the bad press which MISA had is due to an unavoidable misunderstanding. According to

Crikey Crikey is an Australian online news outlet founded in 1999. It consists of a website and email newsletter available to subscribers. History Crikey was founded by the activist shareholder Stephen Mayne, a journalist and former staffer of the ...

, "women were coerced into gaining weight to conform to Bivolaru's tastes." At the end of 2024, Andreescu condemned the 2023 Police raid from France.

Notes

References

External links

* (in Romanian) * (Atman Federation, in English) * (Tara, in UK) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bivolaru, Gregorian 1952 births Forced prostitution Fugitives wanted by Romania Living people People from Dâmbovița County Prisoners and detainees of France Prisoners and detainees of Romania Prisoners and detainees of Sweden Romanian expatriates in Sweden Romanian people convicted of child sexual abuse Romanian people imprisoned abroad Romanian prisoners and detainees Romanian refugees People with schizoid personality disorder Violence against women in Romania

Biography

Early life

Legal history

MISA

Teachings

Practices

Across the organization

Sex with Bivolaru

Analysis

Validity of mental health diagnoses

In the media

See also

Notes

References

External links