H. W. L. Poonja, also known as Papaji, the Indian Guru who Cohen claims called him his "heir" stated publicly that Cohen only spent 25 hours in satsang before proclaiming himself as enlightened. Papaji describes Cohen's claims as the arrogance of his ego and never acknowledged Cohen as a master or heir, but rather described him as a messenger. The mental, physical, and financial abuse Cohen perpetrated against former students, which he justifies as "crazy wisdom" are documented in books such as "American Guru", "Enlightenment Blues", and "Mother of God", as well as popular blogs such as "What Enlightenment?" and "EnlightenNixt".