Yoga, tantrism, and persecution: MISA, a new religious movement in social conflict

Known since the 1990s as Movement for Spiritual Integration into the Absolute (MISA), Gregorian Bivolaru’s movement has a history of four decades of conflict with Romanian society, represented by the police and courts as well as the media, which have given a lot of attention to apostates and anti-cult activists. In the perspective of new religions studies, the conflict seems to be a typical case, albeit an exceptionally severe one. The article offers basic information about the MISA movement and its conflicts. It suggests an explanation of these conflicts in five possible misunderstandings, due to which the relationship between the new religious movement and the surrounding society becomes extremely complicated.