New York, Apr 24: A former devotee of Guru Sri Chinmoy has written a derisive memoir about her growing up life under his ministry.

In her tome titled ‘Cartwheels in a Sari’, Jayanti Tamm, 38, an English professor at Ocean County College in New Jersey, called the spiritual leader’s group as a ‘cult’.

She also talked about Chinmoy''s "masterful tactics of manipulation."

"He didn''t want his disciples to get an education,” the New York Daily News quoted Tamm as saying.

"He told his disciples to live in the heart and not in the mind, and to act like 7-year-olds," she added.

Tamm said Chinmoy arranged her parents'' marriage and instructed them to remain celibate.

However, when Tamm''s mother became pregnant, Chinmoy created a "birth myth," and even named her.

"Sri Chinmoy claimed I was a chosen soul to serve and worship him as a great disciple,” she said.

"At a young age, I had some questions and doubts about all this," she added.

In one part of the book, Tamm reveals about Chinmoy telling her mother to have an abortion when she became pregnant again.

Tamm said she was banished after she grew disillusioned and attempted suicide at age 25.

"When I was kicked out of the group, the guru sent a message to my parents that I should be evicted and not be spoken to," Tamm said.

Some of Chinmoy''s followers have condemned the book. (ANI)