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. Pandit Rajmani Tigunait is the resident spiritual director of the Honesdale ashram, as well as a member of the Institute's teaching staff. Brian and Terry say her family members at the Institute harassed her by mail and by telephone, with accusations that she had "a habit of inducing this sort of behavior from men.". 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." On the contrary, they sought opportunities to serve the guru's every whim, or even to be abused by him: Megan remembers one woman saying she wished the guru would kick her. Ayurvedic treatments, massage therapy, chiropractic care, and integrative health services at PureRejuv Wellness Center. Ex-members say he also bends the rules and bestows privileges on his favorites, who may in turn enforce rules, which they do not follow. At the same time, she says, he offered her money and told her he wanted to put her in his will. As the other disciples looked on with envy, Swami Rama called her aside for a final, intimate word: She should work on herself, he reportedly told her-lose some weight and learn to admire herself. There's no need for finding out, if I know it is completely wrong.". Immerse yourself in a life-changing course of study and get certified in the authentic teachings of yoga and meditation. Meanwhile, Carolyn says, Swami Rama began singling her out for special attention. Our Honesdale campus continues to be home to a service-driven community of yogis, volunteers, and faculty-in-residence. Carolyn and others say Megan caused a scandal in the Honesdale ashram by breaking the silence surrounding Swami Rama's sexual behavior. Back; Cameroon; India; Mexico; Tibetan Settlements; Get Involved. But one by one, Trescelli says, the women backed down and decided not to pursue legal action. Two other women left the Institute shortly afterwards. Humanitarian, Swami Rama, Teacher. Residents are expected to donate a large portion of their labor, and they must sacrifice personal freedoms and privacy. 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. Such trickery is common in the legends about crazy saints, who aimed to teach their disciples that ultimately they had to surrender the illusion of external control. Most of the Institute's programs are open to the general public. Brian says he felt betrayed, but the knowledge that Swami Rama had financially exploited him made it easier for the couple to cut their ties to the Institute. Well-to-do New Yorkers flock to Honesdale on weekends for seminars in stress reduction, meditation, and diet and nutrition. The scandal convinced Carolyn not to reveal her own secret, she says; she was learning that the Institute administration dealt with such accusations by smearing the women's reputations. He reportedly sat down on a chair next to her bed and proceeded to make sexual advances. Yet the Institute's success comes at a high cost for many of those involved. When the couple confided their resulting marital troubles to Karen and George, Karen confirmed her friend's experience by revealing that she, too, had had a supposedly exclusive and spiritual sexual relationship with Swami Rama before her marriage. Many of those beliefs are based on Hindu and Buddhist teachings about the nature of the guru. No one had thoroughly investigated, until journalist Katharine Webster decided to spend two years researching their allegations. At a young age, Swami Rama is supposed to have been appointed Shankaracharya of Karvirpitham, an exalted spiritual post. Every time he saw her, she says, he told her she was "perfect," as if she had passed some important test. She never received a response. The Himalayan Institute is a good a good model on how to do a resort perfect. His students believe he is able to read minds and manipulate physical reality with his advanced yogic powers; thus they believe he can heal sickness with the power of the "superconscious" mind. Himalayan Institute of Technology Ranking and Awards. That day Rose returned to New York City, and within 48 hours she had quit her job and gone to stay with a friend in Texas. After a couple of months of this special attention, Carolyn says, Swami Rama came to visit her one-day at the book distribution office in Honesdale center. He said, "We must build a center of life which will be an important bridge between East . 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. ", Shortly after Pandit Rajmani introduced her to Swami Rama, Megan says, the guru called her into his private quarters and told her that they'd been together in a past life, that he'd waited to meet her again in this lifetime, and that now they were reunited. However, after Swami Rama talked with them, they either told Brian and Terry that the guru should be allowed a "mistake" or they shunned the couple altogether. Marston's lawsuit, he says, was an act of revenge. Both came from prominent Midwestern families; each had an alcoholic parent, and they now believe they were seeking not only spiritual growth, but also a strong parental figure. According to the stipulation he signed with the Board's Ethics Review Panel, Nuernberger admitted that he terminated a counseling relationship with "Victoria S." during the third session in order to enter into a "personal relationship - such relationship to include sexual contact.". Had Nirvana said anything? 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. Carolyn was raised Catholic, and during high school she explored Transcendental Meditation, Zen Buddhism, Hinduism, and the "Jesus freak" movement. That is, an on-going pattern of power abuse within the guru/student relationship. Even so, it was a blow to find out that she wasn't particularly special: Swami Rama apparently had other "spiritual courtesans." The jury awarded $275,000 in compensatory damages and $1.6 million in punitive damages to the woman. But it is also common in the thought-control techniques of totalitarian states. A spiritual center should pay close to $1.9 million to a woman who says she was sexually assaulted 30 times by the center's leader, a jury decided on Thursday. He also sent out a letter resigning from the board. Sex with a guru is a form of spiritual incest. But the purified ego is a means in discriminating real Self from not-self-real Self from mere self. His early American followers had been spiritual seekers of the counterculture who found their guru at his ashram on the banks of the sacred Ganges in Rishikesh, India. In 1966, he founded the original Himalayan Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy in Kanpur, India; this was followed by an institute in Glenview, Illinois in 1971; it is now headquartered in Honesdale, Pennsylvania, purchased in 1977. Swami Rama made Carolyn his appointments secretary in August also. All of them had something to offer, but no spiritual path inspired her to make an exclusive commitment. Like incest victims, women who say they have been sexually abused by their gurus are sworn to silence by their abusers. But Swami Rama's disciples do not hold him to these standards. We partner with rural communities to provide health services, public libraries, and sustainable employment opportunities. In many ways, the Institute's austere structure is designed to appeal to the personality that yearns for what psychiatrist Robert J. Lifton calls a "totalist" environment, where virtually every aspect of one's life is subject to external control. Patricia Trescelli, and attorney with Parker, Chapin, Flattau, and Klimpel, agreed to consult with the women concerning possible legal action on a pro bono basis. Our humanitarian projects serve impoverished communities through rural empowerment and environmental regeneration. Within a sect the guru's authority is often absolute: he rules from the pinnacle of the institutional hierarchy. As Rutter explains in his book, a sexual relationship between a man in a position of power-doctor, psychologist, mentor, or priest-and a woman who is dependent on him-as patient, student, client, or troubled soul-almost always involves an element of coercion and a betrayal of trust. Wisdom must show itself in action and lovingness." 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. Cameroon Himalayan Institute Cameroon Cameroon is in the midst of conflict. Mission Membership is an invitation to put your spiritual values into action by supporting our shared commitment to service while deepening your study and practice in the living Himalayan Tradition. Of all the Institute's swamis and teachers, Pandit Arya is by far the most scholarly. She remembers that Swami Rama received love letters from several women; one of two of them even mentioned "your child." During this spiel, she says, he put his hand on her buttocks, but she told him she wasn't buying it. himalayan institute of modern arts & learning (HIMAL) Giving back through life-changing experiences. That one gesture unleashed a storm of long-suppressed emotions. Dr. Ballentine says it is "presumptuous" to judge whether or not someone is perfected. Continue reading Be the first to find this review helpful Helpful Share Report 5.0 Former Employee, more than 3 years Came for a job left with life-long friends Years later, Rose contacted Patricia Trescelli, hoping to support a lawsuit by other women working with Trescelli and hoping to press charges against Swami Rama in her own sexual assault. Dr. Ballentine, who says he studied psychology at the Sorbonne and completed his training in psychiatry at Louisiana State University, defends Nuernberger. In daily lectures by the Institute's teachers and in conversation with Swami Rama's disciples, she frequently heard that Swami Rama had a "greater purpose that we couldn't understand," and that he was "beyond morality and judgment. The Institute's "scientific" approach to yoga has made it a success, attracting long-term spiritual disciples as well as large numbers of people who merely want a boost for their psychological or physical well being. HIT ranked under Top Commerce Colleges in All India by The Week 2022. Pandit Arya radiates calm as he speaks. From its beginnings 20 years ago, the Institute has expanded steadily to include some 25 branches and affiliated yoga and holistic health centers in the Midwest, the Northeast, Texas, California, and abroad. Friends of the two couples set up a "truth booth" outside the entrance of the Institute's first annual congress in 1976. After she had lived in Honesdale for a year, Swami Rama started promising to make her his appointments secretary. She began to believe that this man who might have been spiritual at one time was now suffering from feelings he couldn't control. Ex-members say that Swami Rama also uses his psychological insights to manipulate people. But all of them, whether they appear here under a pseudonym or as a background source, understand that if this article provokes a libel suit they can be called to testify in court. Similarly, gurus in the Buddhist and Hindu traditions are supposed to be examples of self-mastery and right living. By this time Carolyn had gained 25 pounds from binging on sweets. Still, she felt she had no right to question the guru's actions. Himalayan Institute Humanitarian is a 501(c)(3) public charity supporting the educational and charitable projects of the Himalayan Institute. Two women wrote statements, which said they had discovered that Swami Rama was attempting to "seduce" both of them contemporaneously. Himalayan Institute locations 3.6 Honesdale, PA Show all locations What's being discussed at Himalayan Institute? But after two unsatisfying years, she left college and returned to the Chicago area. Years later, Carolyn told me that four years of discipleship under Swami Rama had taught her to be a successful liar. The Institute also offers instruction to counselors and psychotherapists in the application of yoga and meditation techniques to therapy. Rajmani explains the basic goals of the Institute's tradition of yoga: "The most important part of the practice is nonattachment." After dismissing the other workers, she says he repeated the familiar litany, but this time he slipped in a new message. Rose spent the next six months moving from place to place, terrified that the Institute network would track her down. In such a situation, she says, the whole system becomes sick and no one can see the light: "There's no truth allowed; it's a no-talk rule.". Ultimately, the woman had revealed the liaison to her husband. Each time the Institute's top professionals have been confronted with complaints that Swami Rama is abusing his position, institutional mechanisms of denial have come to the guru's aid. Study Online Whilst there's no hint of it on the Himalayan Institute's website, Swami Rama faced lawsuits in the 1990s over sexual abuse with his students stemming back to the 1970s. How could she be the only one who realized what was going on? The Himalayan Institute community reaches across the entire globe. His disciples believe he knows them better than they know themselves, and that if they want to achieve their spiritual goals they should do exactly as he says. "I felt two-dimensional, like a piece of paper, a cunt-he didn't care about me. Despite the questions about his background, there is no denying that Swami Rama made a terrific impact on western thinking when he served as a research subject at the Menninger Foundation in Topeka, Kansas. At some point, we ran into Swami Rama in a hallway. Community, Courses, and Content. Early the next morning, she says, he announced to her that she was going to leave; he never set up the promised program. He is held accountable only to the higher spiritual laws, which he is uniquely able to comprehend. Under New York State law, according to Trescelli, a woman who does not get a medical exam or report the incident to police within a limited period of time has little chance of obtaining a conviction. In the mythology of the ashram, the guru is the all-powerful, all-knowing father and the disciples are his spiritual children. Maybe it's an honor that this great yogi asked me of all his students to serve him in this way. Under the guidance of his master, he traveled from monastery to monastery and studied with a variety of Himalayan saints and sages, including his grandmaster who was living in a remote region of Tibet. "The real guru is within," Dr. Ballentine says, "that still small voice within you." Himalayan Institute Online Our new online platform for community, courses, and content. A pearl necklace that Brian had bought from Swami Rama as an "investment" was appraised at roughly one-third of the $100,000 he had paid for it. Explore high-quality, unique, practice-enhancing products made for yogis everywhere. she wondered. And there is a statement, 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.'" At the meeting, Brian says, Dr. Ballentine presented letters from another woman, Karen,* who also claimed to have been sexually exploited by Swami Rama. The Himalayan Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy, nestled in the beautiful Pocono Mountains in Honesdale, Pennsylvania, was founded in 1971. Megan* started the Institute's graduate program in Eastern studies in the fall of 1982. When she asked him what she should do with the love letters, she says, Swami Rama would laugh and say, "Oh, these goofy women! But something, which is truth, cannot be falsified by having one hundred witnesses. By 1977, the Institute was able to purchase the Honesdale ashram, a former Catholic seminary in the rural Pocono Mountains, which now houses more than 100 residents and guests. Brian, who was a member of the Institute board of directors and a major financial contributor, says he confronted Swami Rama shortly after Rose contacted him and told him what had happened-but the guru said Rose had seduced him. 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." Unfortunately, there is some mystery surrounding its founder, Swami Rama, and possible connection with drug abuse and sexual indecency. 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. Community, Courses, and Content. One evening she went out to dinner with Martha*, an old friend from East West Books Chicago. Nestled in the rolling hills of the Poconos, our stunning 400-acre campus is a gathering place for seekers from around the globe. The FBI has confirmed the existence of a file documenting the agency's investigation, but at the time of publication the file had not yet been released under the Freedom of Information Act. In my interviews with current and former members of the Institute, I heard an almost unvarying litany of beliefs about Swami Rama's abilities. University of California System Bans Fully Online Degrees. She was thrilled; it was commonly believed at the Institute that the fastest way to reach enlightenment was to spend as much time as possible in the presence of the guru. ", Pandit Arya is not so reluctant as Dr. Ballentine to articulate is how one can recognize a worthy guru. He laughed, Megan says, and told her that the women didn't know what they were weeding. Himalayan Meditation Institute is dedicated to providing authentic and transformative training in the art and science of meditation. Brian says he did not realize at the time that a conviction for fraud could have lost the Institute its federal tax-exempt status as an educational institution. But she says his attitude toward her underwent a dramatic change; he began to make her a target for his anger, issuing contradictory orders and then screaming at her for her incompetence in front of the other secretaries and disciples and gossiping about her behind her back. I just don't know that it makes sense to go run around trying to evaluate other people, when you haven't evaluated yourself.". Now Carolyn is more articulate: "When I finally start listening to myself, and I tell him I know he's sleeping with other women-and this is the man I came to, to help me learn how to listen to my inner voice, and then he tells me not to listen to it just as I'm starting to get some confidence in it-that's when I realized, this isn't yoga, this isn't truth, this is abuse.". Arya, however, says that much of Darling's information is inaccurate. Go to Top. 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. Rose told Brian and Terry that she was afraid to seek help from the family members who'd invited her to the Institute-they were unquestioningly loyal to Swami Rama-and she knew no one else there. According to Karen and George, no legal action resulted. Yet the women never seemed to complain about such treatment, Megan says. Swami Rama has a reputation among his followers as an incredible psychologist who uses his insights to help others. Lecturing and teaching worldwide for more than a quarter of a century, he is the author of fourteen books, including his autobiography Touched by Fire: The Ongoing Journey of a Spiritual Seeker, the best-selling At the Eleventh Hour: The Biography of Swami Rama of the Himalayas and a regular contributor to Yoga International. Although the jury entered a judgment against Nuernberger, it also found that the clinic was not liable for his actions, so Williams failed to recover damages. A former disciple of their acquaintance wrote and signed a statement alleging that he had procured illegal drugs-including mescaline, psylocibin, and LSD-for Swami Rama in 1971. Is it not better to follow someone who has charted the path?". We are happy to bring you a combination of Zoom, In-person, and Hybrid options. But Megan and Carolyn both say that Swami Rama would dismiss Pandit Rajmani and other members of the inner circle after an evening of socializing in Swami Rama's private quarters, while asking them alone to stay behind. In the United States, far from the strong cultural morality of the guru's country of origin, it is not regulated at all. She recalls that he said they would become very close, their bodies would come together, and then they would part. When I asked Pandit Arya about the allegations of sexual abuse, he admits that he was very disturbed when he first heard them. The Institute used to offer an accredited masters program in Eastern Studies and Comparative Psychology through an affiliation with the University of Scranton. The yogis, he says, have demonstrated these abilities in the past and continue to do so. February 27, 2023. Education Advocacy Swami Rama, she says, would extol his own sexual abilities but tell her she was bad at making love. Then, later on, when the right man came along, she would marry and be very happy. Irwin Schneider, the lawyer for the Himalayan Institute, conceded that it was morally wrong for the Swami Rama to have sex with the woman from North Carolina, a 19-year-old student at the time. Shortly after they started studying with Pandit Usharbudh Arya at the Meditation Center in Minneapolis, he introduced them to his guru, Swami Rama. I mean, he's giving you the teachings and you're going to use the teachings to evaluate him? Initially, Brian says, most of the other directors responded with concern. 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