Mahendranath’s letters to Kapilnath on initiation and the 1989 succession, 1985–1990
Narrative and compilation by Rose Devi
Notes by Sri Kapilnath I.M.M., 2015 and 2025
Archive note
This page is kept with the Open Door archive “INO Schism.” It contains the views of Shri Gurudev Mahendranath regarding a schism within the International Nath Order which culminated in the appointment of a new leadership in 1989. The letters in that archive are a record of the issues and the timeline of events. These materials are critical of the views and conduct of several people and do not stand in for the living work of the INO as a whole. Read on only if you are seeking a clear account on the specific questions of initiation and succession.
The letter posts in that archive stated that a document explaining the issues was under development and would use those letters to validate its accuracy and timeline. This page is that document. The connecting narrative and compilation are by Rose Devi. The quotations are Dadaji’s. The two dated notes are by Sri Kapilnath.
In the mid-1980s, as Shri Gurudev Mahendranath—known to his disciples as Dadaji—entered the later years of his life at Shambhala Tapovan in Mehmadabad, India, he continued a correspondence that would decide the future of the Nath transmission he had established in the West. The letters written primarily to Sri Kapilnath (John Pilskog) show a teacher watching that transmission begin to fracture under inactivity, misunderstanding, and claims that contradicted his own published statements on initiation.
What follows reconstructs those issues, as far as possible, through Dadaji’s own words. Every assertion about the founder’s intentions is tied to a dated letter or formal statement. Two later notes by Sri Kapilnath—one published in June 2015, and one written in 2025—are included because they answer a claim that has been used to set the letters aside: the allegation that Dadaji’s late correspondence may be dismissed as the product of dementia.
The Transmission of 1978
By 1978 Dadaji had already resolved that the ancient sadhu lineages he headed—the Adi-Nath and Uttara Kaula sects—could not be continued in the modern world as they had been practiced in India. Initiation into those sects required the full renunciation of householder life: no marriage, no gainful employment, and no ownership of property. He judged that way of life impossible for most Western seekers.
To meet that reality he founded a new vehicle: the Western Nath Order, later renamed the International Nath Order (INO). In a formal statement of 21 August 1985, titled “From the Dark into Light,” he made the parameters of this transmission unmistakable:
I remain today as the Guru of both these sects, and I remain the only and last member and Guru of both these sects. I can only initiate in one or both these sects, one who becomes a sannyasin or sadhu. This involves the obligation that the initiate will not marry, not engage in business or gainful employment, and will not own a home or property. I have resolved not to pass on the initiation or make new sadhus because of the difficulties experienced in India, and it is a way of life impossible in Western and most other countries in the world.
— From the Dark into Light, 21 August 1985
To give the new Western Order continuity from those older traditions, he transmitted the Guru initiation to only two Western people:
I gave this Guru Initiation to Michael Magee with the cryptonym of Shri Lokanath Mahanath, and appointed him as head of the new Western Nath Order, thereby handing him the seeds to spread and scatter in the Western world. The only other Western person I gave the Guru Initiation to pass on is the Canadian Lady known as Shri Lalita Devi. Only these two people have received the transmission from me.
— From the Dark into Light, 21 August 1985
He was explicit that the older sadhu sects would end with him:
Many Indian sects have terminated in recent years, so the end of the Sadhu sects of Adi Nath and Uttara Kaula will be no unusual event, and it is also my wish that they terminate at my death.
— From the Dark into Light, 21 August 1985
Five days earlier he restated the same limit:
No, I have never given Uttara Kaula diksha initiation to anyone, nor have or ever will give sadhu diksha in the Adi-Nath sect… Lokanath & Lalita are the only Westerners I have given initiation and passed on the tradition.
— From a Letter to Kapilnath of 16 August 1985
At that date he still spoke of Lokanath as head of the Western Nath Order and asked Naths to work with him. The later letters of 1988–1989 do not cancel the 1985 statements on initiation. They record Dadaji’s judgment that the British administration of the new Order had failed, and that new leadership was required.
Vilasanath and the 1978 Charter
Even while the new Order was taking shape, difficulties appeared. Around 1978 a man later known as Vilasanath (John Power) sought permission to start a tantrik order. In the letter of 16 August 1985 Dadaji wrote that he had given him a charter to start and expand the “Oriental Tantrik Order” and the name Vilasanath, on the condition that he take initiation from Lokanath (Mike Magee). That condition was never fulfilled.
By 1985 Dadaji’s assessment was severe:
Vilasanath has never been to India and has had no initiation from me… Vilasanath’s action in by-passing him was in very very bad taste.
— From a Letter to Kapilnath of 16 August 1985
Nine days later the judgment was sharper:
Power is not a disciple of mine but a reject. He has played the role of ‘bete noire’ to Lokanath for too long. To me he & his are excommunicatio.
— From a Letter to Kapilnath of 25 August 1985
The charter, whatever purpose it once served, had become a source of confusion about who held a legitimate transmission from Dadaji.
The British Section, 1985–1989
The deeper and more lasting fracture concerned the British leadership under Lokanath (Mike Magee). Dadaji repeatedly acknowledged Lokanath’s early hard work and personal loyalty. The 1985 public statement still praised that work. By the late 1980s a different pattern had become unmistakable: inactivity, unpublished manuscripts, and a residual attachment to older occult forms.
In January 1989 Dadaji wrote:
Over the last two years I have had letters from U.K. asking ‘If Mike has dropped out?’ or, ‘Why has Mike dropped out?’ I think I would be correct in saying that the majority of our people in UK don’t think of him anymore… The worst feature of his inactivity is that he does not think anyone knows about it…
— Letter to Kapilnath & Zonule, 25 January 1989
Dadaji forbade grade papers for the Nath Order that resembled the machinery of paper occultism, and he noted that manuscripts he had written remained largely unpublished in Britain for years, despite offers by others to distribute them freely. In a later reflection he observed:
All my hints at something new and all on a higher level only fell on deaf ears. By an odd coincidence at the end of Mike’s 3 day visit, my last words to him were ‘Don’t forget, everything new and on a higher level.’ But again these words fell on deaf ears.
— From a Letter to Kapilnath of 6 July 1990
AMOOKOS, the arcane order intended to function as the leadership of the Western Naths, had in Dadaji’s judgment become “something only on paper.” Attempts to revive it without addressing the underlying issues only prolonged the confusion.
You have MAGIKOS for your own baby if you want it, and develop it yourself and in your own way. Only I want it to be for real and not as AMOOKOS became—something only on paper. A Magick Order must have a shadow figure or group behind the leader…
— Letter to Gurunath Kapilnath of 8 February 1989
In a January 1989 letter he proposed MAGIKOS—“Magick and Gramarye Initiate Knights of Shambhala”—as something new and separate from that confusion, an inner circle whose purpose was to master the guidelines and help direct the affairs of the Order.
If there is the need for an Arcane Magick Order in the U.S.A., I would rather it was something new and separate from the confusion of AMOOKOS. What about “Magick and Gramarye Initiate Knights of Shambhala.” The initials form MAGIKOS (the Greek word for magic). There must come a time when advanced people are needed to teach the Nath guidelines to others and meet periodically to direct the affairs of the INO (or is it ION).
— Letter to Kapilnath & Zonule of 25 January 1989
Claims of Adinath Initiation
The most serious distortion was the claim, advanced in British publications, that Adi-Nath (Adinatha) initiations had been conferred upon Western householders. Dadaji had repeatedly and publicly stated since 1985 that this was impossible.
In “The Splendour of the Bright Shining (A Corrective to Corruption)” of 18 July 1989 (Guru Purnima), he wrote:
This is the only initiation I have given and there is no other… This Nath Initiation is the identical one which was given to Lalita Mataji and the same one which was given to Mike Magee… I have never initiated anyone into the Adi-Nath sannyas sampradaya either in India or the West. In fact, I cannot do so. To be initiated into the Adi-Nath Sampradaya one has to first renounce world, family and everything. One must not be an householder or do gainful employment or own property… I cannot, nor would I want to break this Hindu tradition.
— The Splendour of the Bright Shining (A Corrective to Corruption), 18 July 1989
When reports reached him that Mike had initiated people as sadhus of a Hindu sampradaya, Dadaji’s response was decisive:
Michael Magee dropped out nearly 3 years ago. He is not a Natha or AMOOKOS and I have declared him “EXCOMMUNICATIO.
— Letter to Kapilnath & Zonule of 25 July 1989
The central question Dadaji posed two months later has still not been answered:
If UK Naths have not had this ordination as sadhus, what initiation have they received?
— Letter to Kapilnath & MAGIKOS of 12 September 1989
The Appointment of Sri Kapilnath
By mid-1989 Dadaji had concluded that the living transmission required new leadership. He wrote to Kapilnath:
I will be sending you a document making you the I.M of ION, MAGIKOS, and also include AMOOKOS as there may be decisions to be made when I am gone… I would like some photo of you to send to people and let them know who is the new leader, as I want to retire completely as soon as possible.
— Letter to Kapilnath & Zonule of 25 July 1989
He had already begun addressing Kapilnath as “Gurunath Kapilnath, I.M.M.” (Imperator Magus Mundi). Parallel to this, he encouraged MAGIKOS as an upper circle of leaders whose purpose was to keep the guidelines living and practical rather than paper-bound. He contrasted the energy he saw on the Pacific seaboard with the stagnation he perceived in Britain:
It does not worry me in the least if west USA & Vancouver are the only Nath areas.
— Letter to Kapilnath & Zonule of 25 July 1989
A year later the same contrast was still in the letters:
Thank heavens that there has been a Pacific seaboard and brightness…
— From a Letter to Kapilnath of 6 July 1990
A Later Perspective (2015)
On 30 June 2015 Sri Kapilnath published How Synergetikos played out in real life a brief reflection on how the issues had played out.
Noting a British “Weirdglow” newsletter that listed holders of “valid Adinatha initiation,” he reminded readers of Dadaji’s 1985 clarification that both Adinatha and Uttara Kaula initiations could only be passed to those already living as sadhus or sannyasins. The claim that Dadaji had been “retired” or deposed while still living was, in Kapilnath’s words, “all quite impossible.”
He further observed that the unanswered question Dadaji had posed—“If UK Naths have not received this ordination as sadhus, what initiation have they received?”—had never been met with a direct reply. Instead, a narrative of Dadaji’s late-life dementia had been advanced. Kapilnath invited readers to judge that narrative against the internal consistency of the letters themselves.
A Further Note from Sri Kapilnath (2025)
Written by Sri Kapilnath I.M.M. (John Pilskog), 2025
None of Mahendranath’s clarifications put forth in the first part of this document have ever been discussed or even referred to by his detractors. The “dementia” theory was put forth as a change of subject in the form of a smear, because they never had, nor have, any basis on which to refute or challenge Mahendranath’s clarifications on initiation. Their modus operandi was to simply deflect and refuse to discuss or acknowledge. This pattern holds true to this very day.
From 1984 through 1991 I exchanged letters with Shri Mahendranath on an average of two to four times a month. These letters sometimes overlapped, and his writing and replies were always crisp and cogent. During this same period Shri Gurudev Mahendranath also wrote, among other manuscripts and letters:
These writings are published on this site. They belong to the same years as the letters on initiation.
Shri Mahendranath did not lose his mind prior to his departure from this plane, also known as mahasamadhi, on 30 August 1991. Assertions to the contrary by his detractors are simply unsupported libel, projected in order to change the subject. The subject remains Shri Gurudev Mahendranath’s attempt to clarify the topic of initiation and leadership, as detailed above.
Authenticity and the Public Record
The correspondence leaves little ambiguity about Dadaji’s own position on the central questions:
The later claim that these letters can be set aside as the product of a collapsed mind does not meet the record. The historical rules regarding Hindu parampara issued in the 1989–1990 letters are the same that he published in 1985. The manuscripts of those years are on this site. The correspondence with Kapilnath ran, by his count, at two to four letters a month from 1984 through 1991.
What has never been answered is not a medical question. It is Dadaji’s own: if the British Naths did not receive sadhu ordination, what initiation did they receive?
Sources
This narrative and compilation, prepared by Rose Devi, has been drawn from the published correspondence of Shri Gurudev Mahendranath to Sri Kapilnath, 1985–1990, together with two clarifying notes by Sri Kapilnath (June 2015 and 2025). Every assertion concerning the founder’s intentions is supported by his own words, so that readers may judge the issues for themselves.
Digital copies of the original letters are published by the International Nath Order at internationalnathorder.org/category/ino-schism/. The manuscripts named in the 2025 note are likewise available on the same site.
Principal documents cited