Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 2, No. 3, 2003, Page 89
Van der Braak, Andre. Enlightenment Blues: My Years with an American
Guru
Monkfish Book Company, 27 Lamoree Rd., Rhinebeck, NY 12572
(www.monkfishpublishing.com), 2003, 228 pages, ISBN 0-9726357-1-8 (pbk)
spirituality/memoir
Enlightenment Blues is the second significant memoir I have read by a former
student/disciple of the American guru Andrew Cohen—the first was by Cohen‘s mother,
Luna Tarlo, who published Mother of God in 1997. Andre van der Braak knew Tarlo as they
were ―students‖ together and shared a house briefly. He read Tarlo‘s book during his final
struggles to defect after eleven years of devotion to Cohen‘s unnerving spiritual leadership
and the idiosyncratic cult of enlightenment focused on the guru. Van der Braak currently is a
Ph.D. candidate and teaches philosophy in Amsterdam. During his hiatus with Cohen, van
der Braak rose and fell in the community ranks and became one of Cohen‘s chief editors, in
one case reading over 4,000 pages of transcripts from Cohen‘s talks, then pruning and
shaping them into the book, Enlightenment is a Secret. Curiously, for his dissertation
subject he chose Nietzsche.
Cohen, now around fifty years old, apparently has held sway over a core of one hundred
fifty students, a number that has not significantly changed over the past fifteen years
despite the continual turnover. Nevertheless, he has continued to teach that his
enlightenment is a ―revolution‖ that would change the face of planetary spirituality. Van der
Braak describes his early years as a young Catholic with a romantic, idealistic bent. He was
a good athlete but his stuttering disorder contributed to his shyness. Early on he was
attracted to Transcendental Meditation, the J. Krishnamurti teachings, and Buddhism. He
encountered the writings of the prolific transpersonal philosopher, Ken Wilber. Van der
Braak did his Masters thesis on Wilber. [Ken Wilber who is still writing and developing
remains influential among intellectually sophisticated New Age seekers. Bill Clinton and Al
Gore were both reading Wilber during Clinton‘s second term. Wilber was once a disciple of
the teachings of Da Free John, a.k.a. Da Love Ananda, if not a supporter of that American
guru‘s controversial behavior and cult following.]
According to van der Braak, Andrew Cohen once entertained having Wilber as his disciple
(not that Wilber ever reciprocated). I mention this because the reader of van der Braak‘s
book might easily react with disdain or pity for the devotees described in the book, who for
all intents and purposes follow an immature trust fund hippie with a cocky self image. I
know a part of me did, namely that part that works hard for a living and tires to be a good
husband and father. One has to wonder how anyone could fall for such a transparently
overvalued cause. Cohen had absolutely no training as a monk or a leader in the mystical
tradition he claimed to embody. Until members gave significant donations (One former
female student complained of succumbing to pressure from Cohen to give two million
dollars.), Cohen reportedly lived mainly from a trust he inherited from his grandmother
around 1985, when he left on his spiritual quest to India. In short order after some
superficial seeking (a.k.a. guru hopping), he met Poonja, a then little known follower of
Ramana Maharshi, who was an Indian ―saint‖ in the Advaita tradition. Poonja somehow
recognized that Andrew was special and ―transmitted‖ or sparked feelings of
―enlightenment‖ in him. This epiphany transformed Cohen into a driven man. He appeared
to some of his friends to exude the enlightenment he claimed to have received.
Cohen‘s group evolved over time from one of a free-wheeling band of devotees who had
personal access to the guru and directly felt both his charm and his intensity. Within the
first few years it had become, according to Cohen‘s mother Luna Tarlo, just another fascist
enterprise. Not unlike so many new religious movements, this one flourished initially due to
the enthusiasm of these first students who advertised Cohen‘s cause. The message was that

Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 2, No. 3, 2003, Page 90
there is a new messiah, a revolutionary avatar, or an emerging Buddha among us now—
come and see! The bulk of this book engages the reader in the intimate world of the
devotees, what they were thinking and feeling and how they struggled with an increasingly
irrational if demanding leader. Cohen convinces a male student to have his twenty
thousand-dollar Saab crushed to end his attachment.
We follow the author through group events and relocations from Amsterdam to India and
from Massachusetts to Marin County. He describes his ascent to key editor and sub-leader
as well as his demotion to common student. Along with all students of the inner circle,
Cohen micro-managed van der Braak‘s sexual relationships and whether any close student
had sex at all. Celibates were required to shave their heads. Van der Braak‘s roller coaster
journey was not unique in the group. To anyone familiar with ex-cult member
autobiography [I‘ve read at least 100 accounts in published books and unpublished
manuscripts], van der Braak inadvertently exposes the tragic pattern common to
authoritarian groups that have poor checks and balances. One feature is a leader who
manages by perceiving constant, often bizarre crises while demanding unquestioning
loyalty, not unlike a hapless military campaign trapped in an amusement park. Cohen
reportedly threw temper tantrums, if he felt criticized in the news media, for example. This
is one unfortunate result of radical dualism in action or groups that devalue the ―world‖ as
an illusion while obsessing over a mysterious something or ideal they call gnosis or
enlightenment.
As van der Braak so skillfully relates in his narrative, Cohen may have been immature but
he was no idiot. The guru‘s utter confidence in his new spiritual status was contagious to
many seekers he met, and he was clever enough to reduce the experience of enlightenment
to simple, radical notions that at least could attract and impress the novice. Van der Braak
does help us appreciate the human need for spiritual resolution, and the need for most of us
to believe that some saints or gurus have somehow managed to tap into communion with
transcendental mysteries. It certainly was his need, and like so many who end up in
spiritual pits instead of a path our author found many like-minded seekers who shared in his
struggle to make sense of Cohen‘s selfish style.
In the end he expounds to another student why he rejects Cohen: ―But in Andrew‘s case he
actually managed to realize all his youthful fantasies, make them into a permanent lifestyle.
And he managed to convince all of us to live in this way too.‖ Van der Braak basically
describes Cohen as a narcissist stuck in his adolescence and out of control. Van der Braak
holds no hostile agenda to destroy Cohen—his stated intent was to honestly describe his
experience and to offer assistance to anyone else struggling to break with or understand a
group like Cohen‘s. This book fulfills its stated purpose well—it is more about caution and
the seeker‘s quest than it is about social or historical analysis, though the author does some
appropriate pontificating. However, van der Braak almost lost my respect in his opening
intro: ―All religions point to the same transpersonal truth.‖ I clench my teeth whenever I
hear absolute statements by someone I sense has no or little more insight into
―transpersonal truth‖ than I do. But the book redeemed itself for me by the end, and I felt I
learned something intimate about a man who matured in his humility and found strength
enough to reveal his way of getting there.
Joseph P. Szimhart