As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. A saint is a person who does what he says." I informed him that I had interviewed women who sought him out because they respected him and trusted him to be interested in the truth. Well-to-do New Yorkers flock to Honesdale on weekends for seminars in stress reduction, meditation, and diet and nutrition. The jury called the abuse "spiritual incest . A leader in the field of yoga, meditation, spirituality, and holistic health, the Himalayan Institute is a non-profit international organization dedicated to serving humanity through educational, spiritual, and humanitarian programs. She says he instructed her in how to give him pleasure and admonished her to always tell him that she had received pleasure, even thought she never did. She sounded unhappy, so I made plans to visit her at the Himalayan International Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy in Honesdale, Pennsylvania, where she had been a resident for more than four years. Why did Carolyn say these things? The Himalayan Institute publishes over 60 titles on yoga, spirituality, and holistic health, including the best-selling Living with the Himalayan Masters by Swami Rama and Yoga: Mastering the Basics by Sandra Anderson and Rolf Sovik. His devotees hovered near the ashram's entrance, hoping for final instructions or a blessing from the guru. He is also supposed to have graduated from a homeopathic medical school in India, and studied at Hamburg University, the University of Utrecht, and Oxford University. Nestled in the rolling hills of the Poconos, our stunning 400-acre campus is a gathering place for seekers from around the globe. In a few months time she would handle his bank account, income taxes, everything. Many people, including the victims themselves, have trouble understanding how damaging such sexual contact can be, because the women are adults and no one is holding a gun to their heads. It is sad for him, and for those who cared and were so deeply hurt by him, that his behavior has been allowed to continue with such devastating results to people just looking for help." She never received a response. She recalls that he would repeat a series of affirmations and commands in a hypnotic monotone: She had done very well organizing the book distribution operation, Carolyn says he would tell her. According to Karen and George, no legal action resulted. Swami Rama, whose legal name is Brij Keshore Kumar, was born in 1925 in Uttar Pradesh, according to his official biography, parts of which appeared in the March/April 1990 issue of Yoga Journal. My initial experience with yoga in the 1990's at the Himalayan Institute of Buffalo led me to making a radical shift in lifestyle and moving to the Institute's educational headquarters in Honesdale, P.A. But Mr. Schneider told the jury that evidence indicated the relationship was consensual. But in 1980, they say, they returned to Honesdale after a brief vacation to learn that their friend Rose* had allegedly been sexually assaulted by Swami Rama during their absence and had fled the Institute for New York City. We partner with rural communities to provide health services, public libraries, and sustainable employment opportunities. In August, Carolyn says, Swami Rama told her to meet him in New York City for the next step in her spiritual training. Instead they deny the experience of the "unenlightened" women who are the guru's victims. Dr. Ballentine, the Institute's president and director of the Combined Therapy Program, explains that human beings have the potential to do "all kinds of things, like move our bodies at will from one place to another, or be aware of what people are thinking on the other side of the earth, or inner states of consciousness that take us to the future and the past." Carolyn walked up to the cabin, she says, where after a brief minute spent leafing through her work, the guru asked her in a low voice for a meeting later that night. A world leader in the field of yoga, meditation, spirituality, and holistic health, the Himalayan Institute is a non-profit international organization dedicated to serving humanity through educational, spiritual, and humanitarian programs. The Himalayan Institute publishes over 60 titles on yoga, spirituality, and holistic health, including the best-selling Living with the Himalayan Masters by Swami Rama and Yoga: Mastering the Basics by Sandra Anderson and Rolf Sovik. One day Swami Rama called for her and told her he wouldn't be taking her to India that autumn. Yet she is vulnerable to feeling re-victimized every time her experience is denied or distorted. The Institute also offers a dizzying array of education programs, including a diploma program for hatha yoga teachers. Two of the guru's most devoted disciples left the Institute three years ago because they had learned while in India as part of an Institute tour group that parts of Swami Rama's official biography were fabricated. He says he spends most evenings with the guru until midnight or 2 a.m., and that he knows better than anyone who is with Swami Rama late at night and who isn't. Become more involved with the projects of the ashram-seminars, residents, the patient program-in time she would be in charge of the whole thing. And she would help him write books. But the Institute does not teach the mastery of such powers in its programs, instead focusing on yoga practices with more immediate practical application. The daughter of an alcoholic, she longed for guidance from a spiritual authority figure. According to Marston's attorney, Philip W. Getts, his client never recovered the $50,000 in punitive damages Nuernberger owed her, because Pennsylvania is one of the few states that does not allow the court to garnish wages. Anyway, he said that our relationship would be exclusive, I'd be like a spiritual courtesan. Minneapolis was the site of another Institute-related scandal in 1981. The original creator of the neti pot, the Himalayan Institute has been offering traditional and modern products for health and spirituality since 1971. She was afraid to stay in her room, which had no lock on the door, or to use the hall telephone, because all calls had to be routed through the main switchboard. He reportedly smokes cigarettes, watches television for hours every day, and gossips, but his disciples rationalize this non-abstinent behavior: "Oh, Swamiji just smokes to bring himself down to the earth plane," or, "The TV is on incessantly just to give the student one more distraction to challenge his ability to maintain yogic balance," or, "all the stories Swamiji tells about other people are just to give the disciple the opportunity to develop objectivity and not get caught up in the meaningless gossip.". He says that Nuernberger's one mistake has "ruined his life, in essence, which is really too bad.". Ultimately, the woman had revealed the liaison to her husband. Anyone can read what you share. Similarly, gurus in the Buddhist and Hindu traditions are supposed to be examples of self-mastery and right living. Carolyn is not alone. This seemingly whimsical application of standards demoralized many of the ex-members I spoke with and led many to resent the members of Swami Rama's inner circle. Surrender only leads to enlightenment if the "guru within" is strong and well developed. But for a man of Pandit Arya's background and beliefs, the relationship with one's guru is more momentous than any merely temporal bond. Our commitment to service both at home and abroad incorporates our global humanitarian impact through projects in Africa and India as well as a commitment to sustainable partnerships with the local community at our world headquarters in Honesdale. Sexual contract between gurus and their American disciples is not a new or rare phenomenon. At some point, we ran into Swami Rama in a hallway. At that, she says, he raged at her until she was sobbing, unable to speak a word in her own defense: No! Explore our integrative health services & therapeutic treatments to help restore your natural state of well-being. But the victims of what Jungian analyst Peter Rutter, M.D., has termed "sex in the forbidden zone" (in his book of the same name) submit to sexual advances because of a powerful psychological threat. toshiba tv screen goes black after a few minutes. Even so, it was a blow to find out that she wasn't particularly special: Swami Rama apparently had other "spiritual courtesans." I mean, he's giving you the teachings and you're going to use the teachings to evaluate him? But still, she was afraid to leave the community she'd been part of for so long and reenter a world that had practically forgotten her existence. At the same time as he dismissed her, Swami Rama also gave her a Sanskrit name. She said no: She had been on a work crew Swami Rama had ordered to week poison ivy roots for his new garden, and she was covered with oozing blisters. But as she spent more time around Swami Rama and his inner circle, Megan says, the guru subjected her to a barrage of sexual harassment. When she shared her news with the other residents at East West Books, they told her she should feel honored: She had been chosen, while long-time devotees had been denied the privilege. Megan says she squelched an urge to speak out, instead deciding, like most of the Institute's residents, to suspend judgment so she could "understand and learn" from this "great master." Each of the women I interviewed described how he would discern her particular needs and self-doubts and manipulate her spiritual beliefs or naivet in order to exploit her sexually-he has an uncanny ability to suit his approach to each victim, they say. Expert wellness consultations direct to your home. The same spirit of community and service that fuels our headquarters in Honesdale, PA, can be found in these dedicated affiliate centers of practice. At the same time, she says, he offered her money and told her he wanted to put her in his will. Swami Rama, she says, would extol his own sexual abilities but tell her she was bad at making love. Pandit Rajmani cannot entertain the notion that the women's stories could be true. $1.9 Million Awarded In Swami Sexual Case, https://www.nytimes.com/1997/09/06/us/1.9-million-awarded-in-swami-sexual-case.html. Ag Innovation Center Business Plan. According to ex-members, Swami Rama often acts in ways his disciples find humiliating, but they tell each other he is humbling their stubborn egos to help them reach enlightenment faster. Dr. Ballentine says it is "presumptuous" to judge whether or not someone is perfected. Join us in serving a tradition that has served the world selflessly for untold ages. He warns against relying too heavily on the inner voice: "When we look for the guru within, we only end up finding our own samskaras-vagaries of the unconscious mind are mistaken for directions from the superconscious. She was dreamy! Such a relationship, instead of giving the woman the healing or validation she seeks, reinforces her feeling that the only thing of value she has to offer a man with worldly power is her body. Swami Rama's claims to this spiritual background have been questioned by some of his former students. Halfway through their meal, Carolyn remembers, Martha hesitantly said, "I know this will sound like a weird question, but has Swamiji ever asked you to have sex with him?" Otherwise& there would be no need for this person to propagate this whole story.". Our members consist of a vibrant residential community of practitioners, karma yogis (service-driven seekers), and faculty-in-residence as well as a global community of seekers, committed to living their spiritual values. At the Himalayan Yoga Institute we believe in providing you with a broad yogic education to empower you to make the best possible choices for your students and create a modern yoga class that respects yoga's traditions and foundation while taking into account the unique personal needs of your students. Our Honesdale campus continues to be home to a service-driven community of yogis, volunteers, and faculty-in-residence. Most rapists threaten women with physical violence. Carolyn was raised Catholic, and during high school she explored Transcendental Meditation, Zen Buddhism, Hinduism, and the "Jesus freak" movement. Nor does Dr. Ballentine mention that in 1977 Nuernberger was formally reprimanded by the Minnesota Board of Psychology for unethical practices stemming from his relationship with a third woman patient. But during the next three weeks, she says, she saw the Swami mistreating his disciples, especially the women, on a daily basis-yelling at them, ridiculing them, ordering them around, and occasionally kicking a woman in the buttocks when she was on her hands and knees weeding. And there is a statement, 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.'" Meanwhile, Carolyn says, Swami Rama began singling her out for special attention. Everyone said you had to surrender to the guru, so she would simply have to follow through with whatever he ordered her to do. The two couples referred to this statement in a petition to the FBI: they asked the FBI to investigate the threat letter and argued that Swami Rama could be deported by the Immigration and Naturalization Service as an undesirable alien on four grounds: possession of narcotics, sexual immorality, fraudulent financial dealings, and "affliction with [a] psychopathic personality." Check our website! The Combined Therapy program and the outpatient branches of the Institute for Holistic Medicine combine Western medicine, homeopathy, Eastern medicine, psychotherapy, nutrition, yoga, and meditation to treat people with a variety of physical and emotional problems. He would call her to his office for a private audience, and as she hung anxiously on his words he would paint a flattering picture of her future with the Institute. Those who build boundaries around themselves because of their ego problems create suffering for themselves." 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