I believe that uncritical acceptance and idealization of spiritual authority can perpetuate unhealthy relationships and contribute to a lot of suffering. My critique about Daniel Sperato aka Master Donato is based on published testimonies, detective’s report, documents posted in Ancestry, and stories I was told by those who met him personally. My demystifying view can offend those who still hold Daniel (Donato) in the highest esteem as an enlightened teacher and who continue to justify his actions. It is not my intention to challenge someone’s belief about this man but to encourage critical thinking. For some people this view may feel like an attack on their cherished ideal, and I suggest that those readers refrain from reading this article.
I never met Daniel Sperato or developed an emotional attachment to him or to the idea of him, which might be the reason I did not experience cognitive dissonance while writing this article. I came to Morningland many years after his passing. The Gopis (Chokru, Saravati, Ona-Ali, Vajra) and Kamazi promoted the idealized image of Donato, and I accepted it. There was power and comfort in sharing the group’s conviction and belief about their founder. The stories I heard had some loose ends, and I had follow up questions, but there were no answers. The Gopis never shared Morningland’s full history, which resulted in more loose ends. Back then I tried to be a good disciple and as suggested, I put my unpopular questions aside (on the shelf, as the Gopis often said). That is until I left and was free to process every loose end and red flag I placed on “the shelf.” Here is one major processing about Daniel Sperato aka Donato.
Popular View
Those who met Daniel (Donato) speak of him as a kind, and unassuming man. Some said that “he didn’t have a mean bone in his body.” They describe him as a short, average-looking guy that made people feel at ease. Despite being the central figure in Morningland with a status of an enlightened teacher, people say he never acted outwardly as one. He had a day job as a director of the Long Beach Boys Club, and in the evenings, he did spiritual readings in Morningland. Some of his former disciples say that he drew the best out of people and inspired them. Most remember him as a very kind, compassionate guy who didn’t take nonsense and often played a positive father-like figure to his much younger devotees. He often gave helpful, kind, compassionate, or practical advice that others appreciated and valued. Some of his former disciples say he never said he was a Christ and was upset when his wife Patricia (later Sri Donato) called him that way in public. It is unclear whether he believed he was that or not but he did accept his central role as the bridge to the other side or the Upstairs, as they called it. Those I spoke to who have met him had only positive things to say about him, often justifying his controversial behavior.
My critical five cents regarding Donato
Daniel (Donato) passed away in 1976, three years after the grand opening. The disciples who knew him did so only for a short time, with many only meeting him a handful of times at best. Three years is arguably still the honeymoon phase for a spiritual leader as the idealization among the devotees is still running high. In just three years, Daniel and his wife Patricia established a metaphysical (more like New Age) church Morningland. Daniel was the central person. He may not have believed he was Christ but he did believe he had a special connection to “the Upstairs, the ascended masters” which started Morningland in the first place.
Daniel (Donato) was middle aged. He was charming and really good with people, which was crucial for drawing people under his umbrella and gaining their trust. He surrounded himself with 11 female ministers called the Gopis (most of them were young women) which included his middle aged wife. These women ran the church’s programs and increased membership. Despite the great power given to the Gopis, he was the one who pulled all the string, running an organization from the backstage, so to speak.
Before opening his spiritual center, Daniel was a regular guy of Italian descent who was married and had children. Based on a detective’s report and published documents on Ancestry (here), Daniel (Donato) had two children with his first wife who he divorced the same year he married his second wife (was she pregnant?). He had a son with his second wife and he abandoned both on Christmas eve to run away with Patricia to Long Beach where they opened Morningland.
It appears that Daniel (Donato), undoubtedly very charming, had a pattern with women which continued to play out in Morningland.
Based on several published testimonies, Daniel secretly appreciated sensory enjoyments including drugs and alcohol, and slept with the Gopis (the only Gopi he did not sleep with was Gyan who was married at that time). This is where his self control, often associated with spiritual development comes into question. This clandestine arrangement did work for him as this was the first marriage where he did not leave like he did in the past.
How did his wife, Sri Patricia (later Sri Donato), feel about this arrangement with 10 other women? Did she help create this power structure to ensure Daniel remains in control of the business, or did she suffer from jealousy when her husband slept with ten gorgeous young ministers? There are some accounts in the stories of her being very concerned with how the Gopis felt toward him and whether they loved or were in love with him. Additionally, there are accounts of Sri’s intense jealousy problems. We may never know for sure.
Based on one former Gopi’s personal testimony, Daniel ceremonially slept with the Gopis to ensure they would “carry his energy and heal people.” That was Daniel’s narrative and justification. Narratives change how we see things, define our reality, and influence decisions. The Gopis were adults and allegedly consented to sleeping with him, believing they acted of free will. However, the free will aspect can be argued. According to some views, free will is: “The power or capacity to choose among alternatives or to act in certain situations independently of natural, social, or divine restraints.” Would all of these ten women have ever slept with this much older man without the spiritual narrative, knowing he was married and that he also slept with many other women?
I do not believe that the Gopis’ choice was free from social or divine restraints. Daniel was their teacher, their guru, and likely twice their age. He was seen as the Holy Father’s emissary with the keys to everyone’s spiritual salvation! The power dynamic in this situation was greatly tilted in his direction and he used it to the fullest. He established a sense of emotional intimacy and trust, which gave him access to their minds, life’s purpose, and eventually their bodies! I believe that wrapping sexual act in a spiritual narrative justified his actions and bonded these women more closely to him. Steve Hasan, Ph.D. calls this kind of influence undue influence (not a legal definition of this term): “Any act of persuasion that overcomes the free will and judgment of another person. People can be unduly influenced by deception, flattery, trickery, coercion, hypnosis, and other techniques.”
He was not the first or last man to sleep with his consort in the name of personal or group salvation. If having sex with an enlightened teacher was so crucial to one’s enlightenment, why did the rest of the community receive kundalini awakening (Shaktipat) without having sex? Why didn’t he include men or much older women in his Tantra ceremony? This is the classical scenario that happened in so many guru-run ashrams. Just recently, a leader of the NXIVM cult K. Reniere was imprisoned for sex trafficking women. He created a secret group that consisted only of women. He used narratives focusing on the greater good and self-help to obtain sexual submission. Women in this secret group were deceived. They believed they were being empowered and did not recognize that they were abused. It does not surprise me that he did not work in the same “special” way with his male disciples. Similarly, a guru from a former Buddhafield cult was gay and only “helped” his male disciples raise their kundalini with his penis. The list of male teachers doing the same acts under various narratives goes on. What would Morningland be like if Daniel (Donato) had not died in 1976, three years after the grand opening? How would his use of power have evolved over a longer period of time?
Considering what I have heard of him, I believe Daniel was a mild mannered narcissistic cult leader who won others over with kindness, blinding them to his deception. I believe that Daniel did not mean any harm but that does not mean that his actions were not harmful. He had convinced himself in the narrative he created which helped him justify his actions as spiritual work. However, good intentions and spiritual narrative do not mean one will use ethical means to achieve their goals and they certainly cannot hide the deceit and betrayal of his followers. It is not uncommon for those who experienced some altered states of consciousness to develop a god complex and believe they above social norms and exempt from accountability. It is also not uncommon for such individuals to get reinforcement from their followers that feed their belief and entitlement. Sri Patricia, his wife, was very passionate about assigning many spiritual experiences to him and his alleged connection to the Upstairs. Whether spiritual things happened to his disciples because of his or the group’s energy/ expectation/ belief is not unique or uncommon and it certainly isn’t a free pass for his deception and betrayal of people’s trust.
I do not believe Daniel (Donato) was a saint but a man who created a world where he had just enough power and influence to have his cake and eat it too.
Mantika, June 2023 (edited in 2024)
