1. Introduction: A Question of “Mixture” or Synthesis
One of the ways in which the teachings of Gregorian Bivolaru and the movement MISA are sometimes misunderstood in public debate concerns their relationship to spiritual traditions such as Tantra.
Rather than being approached as a coherent system, they are sometimes described as drawing on multiple traditions—such as Yoga, Tantra, Christianity, and Western esotericism—in a way that is taken to undermine their authenticity. This perspective appears not only in discussions and media, but also in highly visible sources such as encyclopedia entries on the Internet.
In public discourse, this is expressed as the idea that the teaching is a “mixture” of different traditions, implying that it lacks a clear foundation. A more precise version of this critique is that elements are taken out of their original cultural and historical contexts, and thereby risk losing their meaning.
In academic analysis, the same observation is formulated in more neutral terms. In her research on MISA, Tova Olsson, affiliated with Stockholm University—and known through the Swedish Radio podcast, Yogasekten, about Bivolaru, MISA and Atman Yoga Federation—characterizes the teaching as “an eclectic religious worldview.” The question, therefore, is not whether multiple sources are present, but how this fact is interpreted.
This question matters because it directly shapes how such teachings are encountered. If they are understood as a random mixture, they are easily dismissed. If, on the other hand, they are recognized as a coherent synthesis, they may be approached as a structured spiritual path capable of guiding real transformation. The issue is therefore not merely academic—it concerns the very possibility of recognizing authentic spirituality in a contemporary context.
At the same time, academic research also offers an important perspective. As noted by J. Gordon Melton, movements such as MISA can be better understood when placed within a broader historical context of traditions that have long combined elements from different sources, including Tantra, Taoism, and Western esotericism (The Religious Background of the Movement for Spiritual Integration into the Absolute, The Journal of CESNUR, Volume 1, Issue 1, September—October 2017, pages 43—60).
The Movement for Spiritual Integration into the Absolute (MISA) is often portrayed as a unique and unprecedented phenomenon because of its integration of sacred eroticism into a religious worldview. This article argues that this is not the case. This integration has precedents in Taoism, Tantrism, and Western Esotericism. Several Western esoteric schools were influenced by Eastern traditions of sacred eroticism, but they also developed their own distinctive paths. While MISA primary reference for Tantrism is Tamil Nadu’s Siddha Yoga, placing the Romanian movement within a larger tradition helps both studying its doctrines and practices and avoiding frequent misunderstandings.
From this perspective, the presence of multiple influences does not necessarily indicate incoherence, but reflects a process that has occurred throughout the history of spirituality, where traditions have evolved through the integration of elements from different sources.
In this article, we approach this issue through one central example: the teaching of Godly Attributes. This example is not isolated, but characteristic. By examining how Godly Attributes are understood, structured, and applied, we aim to show that what is often taken to be a “mixture” is in fact a living esoteric synthesis—a coherent integration of elements from multiple traditions, transformed into a practical and directly applicable spiritual path.
2. Spiritual Traditions and the Reality of Godly Attributes
The idea that God expresses Himself through qualities or attributes appears across multiple spiritual traditions.
In the spiritual traditions of India, especially within Yoga and Tantra, the Godly is approached through fundamental aspects such as love, power, wisdom, and beauty. These are not abstract ideas, but living energies that can be awakened and experienced, often personified as gods and goddesses.
In Christianity, we find the same principle expressed in another language. When it is said that “God is love,” this points to a direct identity between God and a fundamental quality. In Eastern Christianity, the tradition of theosis emphasizes that the human being is called to participate in God’s nature—to enter into the Godly reality itself, often described as God’s uncreated energies.
We can also observe similar perspectives in Western esotericism and in Neoplatonism, especially in the work of Plotinus, where reality is understood as an emanation from the One and the human being can return to this source through inner transformation.
Across these traditions, we find a similar way of understanding spiritual reality. God is both beyond all qualities and present through them—for example, as love, wisdom, or power. Human beings can experience these qualities within themselves. Spiritual practice consists in deepening this connection, opening to their reality, and allowing them to transform us. This is often described as participation—that is, sharing in these qualities as real aspects of God’s presence.
This convergence across traditions suggests that these attributes are not bound to a single context, but express fundamental aspects of spiritual reality that can be approached in different ways. What is less clearly formulated, however, is how this participation can be lived continuously and consciously in the concrete flow of daily life.
3. The Nature of Godly Attributes: Living Energies and Resonance
In Bivolaru’s teaching, the Godly Attributes are understood as real, living energies that exist both in God and within the human being.
When we experience love, courage, or beauty, we are not creating something purely personal. We are resonating—more or less—with a universal Godly Attribute. Our inner state reflects the degree of resonance we have with that attribute.
This notion of resonance gives a concrete and experiential meaning to what earlier traditions described as participation. It becomes something that can be consciously cultivated, refined, and deepened.
At the same time, this perspective brings together elements from multiple traditions into a unified experiential framework. The idea of participation in Christianity, the return to the source in Neoplatonism as expressed by Plotinus, and the energetic understanding of reality found in the spiritual traditions of India are here articulated through a shared principle of resonance.
The Godly Attributes thus function as bridges. Through resonance with them, the human being gains access to God as a lived and immediate reality.
4. Knowing God Through Godly Attributes
Knowledge, in this context, unfolds as a process of deepening resonance.
We may begin with a word—love, truth, courage—which orients our consciousness toward the corresponding Godly Attribute. From there, we enter into experience, recalling or evoking states that already involve resonance.
As attention deepens, resonance intensifies. The state becomes more coherent and unified, and the attribute begins to reveal its deeper nature beyond what discursive thought can grasp.
Communion with Godly Attributes thus becomes one of the most direct and accessible ways to experience God. The Attribute is not separate from God—it is a way in which God becomes present in our consciousness.
When this communion deepens further, the Attribute opens beyond itself and functions as a gate. Through it, we pass from a specific quality into a direct experience of God.
This does not mean that we become united with something external, but rather that the apparent separation dissolves. What is revealed is that the reality we access through the Attribute is none other than God Himself, present as the deepest ground of our own being.
5. The Human Being and the Practice of Daily Life
This understanding becomes especially powerful when applied to daily life.
The human being contains, in a latent form, all Godly Attributes. Every situation has a “Godly face”—a highest possible response corresponding to a specific Attribute.
Practice begins with recognizing the needed state, followed by alignment with the corresponding Godly Attribute through resonance. Instead of acting from limited personal patterns, we open ourselves to the Attribute and allow it to manifest.
Over time, this becomes continuous. Life itself becomes the field of practice—a form of uninterrupted yoga.
There are also concrete methods that support this process. One such method is the use of exemplifications with music for communion with a Godly Attribute. These are not simply aesthetic expressions, but precise energetic supports that help awaken and stabilize resonance with the corresponding Attribute.
In this way, what is described in Eastern Christianity as theosis becomes a lived and continuous process of participation in the Godly reality.
6. A Living Esoteric Synthesis and Revelation
If we now return to the initial critique, the situation becomes clearer.
The elements present in this teaching are deeply rooted in multiple traditions. What is distinctive is the way they are integrated, clarified, and transformed into a coherent and living whole.
This process does not simply remove elements from their original contexts, but rearticulates what is essential in them. The fact that such elements can be recognized and applied across contexts suggests that their meaning is not limited to a single historical or cultural framework, but expresses a universal dimension that can be rediscovered and lived in new forms.
Bivolaru also presents a large number of Godly Attributes revealed through spiritual experience. This situates the teaching within a long lineage: in Christianity, saints receive revelations; and in the spiritual traditions of India, sages receive knowledge through direct insight.
What emerges, therefore, is not a mixture, but a living esoteric synthesis in evolution—one that preserves tradition while renewing it in a directly applicable form.
7. Conclusion: Understanding Beyond the Surface
We can now return to the critique mentioned in the introduction.
It is true that the teachings integrate elements from multiple traditions. But this does not imply incoherence. On the contrary, as academic research indicates, placing such teachings within a broader historical context helps to avoid misunderstandings .
The difficulty lies elsewhere. As Tova Olsson suggests, such a system may not be fully accessible to evaluation from the outside. Her approach, like much academic analysis, relies primarily on rational and comparative methods. But a spiritual teaching is not an academic theory. It is something lived.