Hazra is described by the foundation as an internationally respected teacher of stress management, and says he draws crowds of 200,000 to his appearances in India.

Chatterjee expressed some doubts about the foundation's claims, however.

"Spirituality is very popular in the East. It might be a bigger deal there," Chatterjee said. "But that doesn't necessarily mean that [these people] are what they say they are."

Some students said they expected to hear more about the mission of the foundation, which has worked with the United Nations and whose brochures say they have started a free elementary school in India.

"I thought he'd be a prominent figure who spoke at the [United Nations] World Peace Summit and everything, more so than [one] who would talk about the course," Chatterjee said.

He added that the speech might have been better targeted toward other organizations on campus.

"I just gave [Hazra and his employees] contact information for [University Health Services], because they would be more able to help set up anything like this," said Chatterjee.