The satsang dispositif: Mooji’s teachings, power, authority, and self-transformation

ABSTRACT

This article seeks to contribute to the study of power and authority in the context of the contemporary sociology of religion. It provides a discursive and ethnographic account of the neo-Advaita guru Mooji and his teachings, with a focus on the main practice he advocates, namely the satsang. The article explores the guru–disciple relationship, the authoritarian and charismatic role of the teacher, and the devotees’ processes of disciplining and self-transformation as they attempt to reach self-realisation or enlightenment. Following a Foucauldian framework, the article introduces the concept of the satsang dispositif, the main disciplining, confessional, and self-transformative apparatus characterising Mooji’s teachings. The article ends by summarising the findings of the case study presented, discussing their relevance to the study of contemporary spiritualities in general and underlining the importance of questioning the claims of spiritual seekers regarding self-determination and self-actualisation.

KEYWORDS:

• Power
• authority
• self-transformation
• teacher–student relationship
• satsang dispositif
• sociology of religion

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Farah Godrej and all the members of the book club “The Birth of Biopolitics”, held at the Department of Political Science of the University of California Riverside in the Spring of 2019, for engaging discussions and exchanges on Foucault’s work. Also, I would like to acknowledge the continuous support of my friends and colleagues Nicolas Zampiero and Lorenzo Pedrini.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 The Bhagavad-Gita or “Song of God” is considered a central text in the philosophical and religious literature of India and is part of the Indian epic of the Mahabharata (IV B.C.E—IV C.E.). It is written in the form of a dialogue between the Hindu deity Krishna and the warrior Arjuna. According to a neo-Vedantic reading, the Bhagavad-Gita introduces the ‘classical’ neo-Vedantic model of the three forms of yoga (karma, jñāna, bhakti) in a systematic manner.

2 For a more detailed account of Monte Sahaja, see Di Placido 2018.

3 The three main criteria taken into account when compiling this list are: firstly, “[t]he person has to be alive as of January 1st” of the year; secondly, “[t]he person has to have made a unique and spiritual contribution on a global scale”; thirdly, “[t]he person is frequently googled, appears in Nielsen Data [a company leading in audience insights, data, and analytics], has a Wikipedia page, and is actively talked about throughout the Internet” (https://www.watkinsmagazine.com/watkins-spiritual-100-list-for-2019, accessed 9 July 2020).

4 See e.g. Mooji’s videos: “A MUST SEE!!! A Most Important Video on Enlightenment: For Anyone and Everyone!” (2015) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ui3vIvymDE, accessed 27 May 2020), “The Lazy Man’s Way to Enlightenment” (2017) (https://mooji.tv/freemedia/the-lazy-mans-way-to-enlightenment/, accessed 27 May 2020), “What is Enlightenment? Just You as Your True Self” (2019) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYboBSveY1E, accessed 27 May 2020).

5 For a list of video and written testimonials that invariably express gratitude, see https://mooji.org/voices-from-satsang, accessed 27 May 2020.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Matteo Di Placido

Matteo Di Placido was a PhD Candidate in Sociology and Social Research at the University of Milan–Bicocca, Italy, and during this time a Visiting Scholar in the Department of Political Science and the Center for Ideas and Society at the University of California Riverside (UCR) (Spring and Summer 2019) and an Academic Associate in the Cardiff School of Sport and Health Sciences at the Metropolitan University of Cardiff (Spring and Summer 2020). He is now a Research Fellow at the University of Turin, focusing on cultural sociology. His current research interests include pedagogies of modern forms of yoga, the discursive study and politics of scholarly knowledge production, social theory, socio-cultural theorising, and qualitative methodologies. CORRESPONDENCE: Department of Cultures, Politics and Society, University of Turin, Via Verdi 8, 10124, Turin, Italy.