I have also been involved in Anandamarga Yoga for about a year. I think next to the BK,s this was my longest time in a cult. Anandamarga Yoga operates in various universities teaching Yoga and meditation. When I discovered my local university had a Yoga and meditation society, I promptly joined it. We were greeted by a monk(who call themselves dada) who was upfront about what their path was about(It is a form of tantra) As always, I did research on it and discovered that it was branded as a Terrorist organization in the past. But the reason for those were the extreme actions the followers took when the leader Prahbat Sarkar was wrongfully imprisoned by a corrupt government. So I gave it the benefit of the doubt. I was formally initiated into Anandamarga Yoga up to the second level of teaching and attended three retreats. I was initiated by my acharya in a formal ceremony.
Anandamarga Yoga was far more serious spiritual business than other groups I have been involved in. Their techniques were proper Yoga. In the first phase I was initiated with a mantra which he said was unique to me(I have heard from one source the mantra is the same for everybody) in addition to the universal mantra we are given: Baba naam kevalam.
In the second phase I was given a visualization exercise and a pranayama with synchronized mantra. We also all learned a Yogic dance and the Tandava. What drove me away from the organization was the excessive kirtaan we did, especially at the retreats with the universal mantra. I am not a devotional person, so I found too much Kirtaan really off putting.
I was also putt off by the political actions of the organizations. Anandamarga is not just a Yogic tradition, it is highly political and is involved in activism. When I met the dadas at the retreat, one of them really put me off with Dravidian nationalism. He told how the Aryans had oppressed the Dravidians and how in the Ramayana they were called dark demons. I realised that for a dada who should be more spiritually developed than me, he should be able to see through such propogananda. When I said this was propoganda, he accused me of being Hindutva(Hindu nationalist) I was not impressed. They also insisted that Shiva was the founder of Yoga and Tantra was a global tradition going back tens of thousands of years. I said Shiva was a mythological figure, not a real life historical person. They opposed me saying they would put me in touch with historians in the organization.
As with any cult there was a tendency to censor free, critical and independent thinking. I had many debates with my acharya and he would rudely censor me in front of everybody. When they would ask questions about the Yoga philosophy we learned, he would tell us we were wrong if our answer was not word for word the same as he taught it. I noticed he had a lot of ego and loved the sound of his own voice. He was suppose to be a monk and high initiate - but I was not impressed. He once shouted at me in front of everyone. I stopped going thereafter.


You will find Hindu web sites talk about these sciences. The so-called Vimanika shastra, and Ansu Bodhini(spectroscopy) I don’t find it hard to believe, considering how advanced Vedic science was. There is an allusion to microscopes in Ayurvedic texts when it gives a description of 20 types of microorganisms.