Perfect. Gurus were supposed to have conquered their desires, but in the spiritual literature they were often portrayed as contradictory, tricking their disciples into enlightenment. Although she told an institute official about the assaults and the institute was aware of similar complaints by other women, the complaint said, the center did nothing to stop them. Himalayan Institute | Honesdale PA She began to believe that this man who might have been spiritual at one time was now suffering from feelings he couldn't control. Then he started giving her practices without any spiritual meaning, she says, and telling her she wasn't doing them right. Cons Not one that I can see. The women's fears have aborted projects intended to expose possible exploitation to a wider audience. "Unpurified ego is an evil which obstructs one's own progress. "If the guru's instruction leads to a deeper peace, freedom from conflict, a deepening of meditation, harmony in relationships - all of these. Carolyn is not alone. Explore high-quality, unique, practice-enhancing products made for yogis everywhere. Back; Cameroon; India; Mexico; Tibetan Settlements; Get Involved. 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. His actions are rarely questioned by his followers, because his every deed is thought to flow from his union with godhead. She opted to forego pursuing a Ph.D. in clinical psychology because the Institute's program allowed her to earn a degree in a related field while studying Eastern philosophy and meditation with Pandit Rajmani, who had initiated her in Chicago. But Swami Rama's disciples do not hold him to these standards. After teaching, studying, and traveling throughout India and Europe, he came to the University of Minnesota in the 1960s, where he taught Sanskrit and Indian religions. His response: "Listen, there are certain things which are based on witnesses-those are facts. 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. But Carolyn says she stifled her doubts about the guru, transforming them into doubts about her own selfishness: "Because I'd rationalized that he was teaching me a lesson, I believed he must be teaching other women the same lesson, and I shouldn't begrudge his attention to other students.". 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. At the same time, she says, he offered her money and told her he wanted to put her in his will. Megan says her feelings told her that something was amiss, but because of the social environment, she began to entertain the notion that the Swami's motives might not be what they appeared to be, and that his attempts at a con job might be a spiritual test. 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. Those who build boundaries around themselves because of their ego problems create suffering for themselves." Authentic Ashram Living 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. Our new online platform for community, courses, and content. Brian says he refused to tell Rose's story in such an atmosphere. We are happy to bring you a combination of Zoom, In-person, and Hybrid options. Whether youre retracing the footsteps of sages through pilgrimage in the Himalayas, or immersing yourself in the most incredible spaces the US has to offer, you will experience the life-changing power of yoga in action. That was why he wanted her to be his secretary. She renewed her acquaintance with her former meditation teachers and started taking classes in Glenview, Illinois, at the Institute's original headquarters. 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. Megan recalls that in one of her first encounters with Swami Rama, she watched as he humiliated a quiet, withdrawn woman resident. HIT ranked under Top Commerce Colleges in All India by The Week 2022. He backed off, Megan says, while telling her that sex wasn't necessary-she could be his special student. One evening in early June, Carolyn remembers, Swami Rama's housekeeper phoned the women's dorm and asked her to bring the manuscript she was preparing over to Swami Rama's new cabin. Soon Carolyn noticed she wasn't the only woman being favored by the guru; he was also paying attention to Megan and Nirvana. 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 also received a threat, he says: a note telling him he "might get hurt," which was accidentally shoved under the door of a lawyer who rented the office next door to his in a Honesdale office building. It was years more before she felt she had the right to be angry at her spiritual family, the staff and residents of the Institute who, she says, denied the signs of abuse all around them. Megan went through a brief but painful and confusing time during which she doubted her own feelings and perceptions. Outside of work, Sawana has been married to her wonderful husband since 2008 and together they have 3 beautiful sons. After he had, as she describes it, "had sex on my body," she took a blanket into the other room and slept on the floor. "Even if I found out-how can I find out? "By their fruits you shall know them," he says, paraphrasing the Bible. When he was finished, Rose told them, Swami Rama left her room, saying he's be back the next day. God knows whether it was true or not, and even if it was true, this is a normal phenomenon. Brian didn't believe his teacher, and he spoke with several other Institute administrators and board members about Rose's claim of abuse. Burnett is a postdoctoral fellow in Houston's department of education leadership and . Carolyn rationalized: Swamiji was her guru, so even though the prospect of having sex with him seemed morally wrong and physically revolting, he must be doing it for her own good. 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. She thanked me, but assured me I had no reason for concern. Carolyn was raised Catholic, and during high school she explored Transcendental Meditation, Zen Buddhism, Hinduism, and the "Jesus freak" movement. -- Swami Rama, "Living With the Himalayan Masters". 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. In the presence of others, we spoke only of positive or spiritual matters, in the deliberately modulated tones all the residents used. She became paralyzed by her fear of angering him. They are instructed to have "no emotional relationship inside or outside the Institute," and residential program directors are charged with monitoring disciple's behavior and attitudes to make sure they conform to Institute expectations. But sexual contact between a guru and his disciples is not regulated by any professional association of religious hierarchy. Meanwhile Janet,* a Honesdale woman who worked as the couple's babysitter and housekeeper at the time, says she received threatening phone calls at Brian and Terry's house, asking if she was alone with the children. Because I do not want to find out. Residents staff the Institute's administration, bookstores, and other small businesses, including Himalayan Publishers and Distributors and an elementary school. The Institute used to offer an accredited masters program in Eastern Studies and Comparative Psychology through an affiliation with the University of Scranton. But it is also common in the thought-control techniques of totalitarian states. kono oto tomare main character; best supported football clubs in europe; rolling ridge conference center The annual congress, held each June, offers a smorgasbord of lectures and "new age" workshops. Pandit Arya radiates calm as he speaks. 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. Since the early 1970s, women have been claiming sexual abuse at the hands of this prominent spiritual teacher. She never received a response. They resided in their own house in Honesdale, unencumbered by the strict rules of the residential program. 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. It is a mistake to judge the external guru's worthiness by his behavior; instead, the student should look inside and determine whether that person is helping dispel the darkness of her ignorance. Several months later, the two couples met up again. She became outraged at the residents and the professional staff who enable and legitimized the Swami's behavior. This was not true! But the siddhis can be an ego trap. He laughed, Megan says, and told her that the women didn't know what they were weeding. The original creator of the neti pot, the Himalayan Institute has been offering traditional and modern products for health and spirituality since 1971. Hadn't he taken vows of celibacy? 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. Many disciples come from alcoholic and dysfunctional families where they have learned how to deny emotional abuse directed against them or their siblings, in order to believe that their parents really love them and are acting in their best interests. 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. Go to Top. He told her he was writing a book of poetry for her, and he offered to find her a husband. At the same time as he dismissed her, Swami Rama also gave her a Sanskrit name. 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. The program seemed to provide the ideal family she'd never had, where everyone shared her values and spiritual goals. Rajmani explains the basic goals of the Institute's tradition of yoga: "The most important part of the practice is nonattachment." Health Clinics Health Education Public Libraries School of Carpentry 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. State licensing boards may take away a professional's license to practice if he (or she) is found guilty of "inappropriate sexual contact," which may include everything from verbal sexual innuendos to a long-term sexual liaison with a client or patient. Allegations of sexual abuse by Swami Rama have followed on the heels of the Institute's success like a shadow. 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. Most of the women who say they were abused by Swami Rama express feelings of fear, frustration, and betrayal. The accumulated testimony of their personal experiences through the years exhibits a pattern typical of "sex in the forbidden zone," coupled with institutional mechanisms of defense and denial. Ayurvedic treatments, massage therapy, chiropractic care, and integrative health services at PureRejuv Wellness Center. Two women wrote statements, which said they had discovered that Swami Rama was attempting to "seduce" both of them contemporaneously. She recalls that she blushed as she forced out the words: "I think you have been sleeping with other women." 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. 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. Swami Rama was the founder of the Himalayan Institute. When they have contacted their friends and former colleagues at the Institute, they have been discounted as liars or labeled "emotionally disturbed." Williams, however, did not sue Nuernberger himself; she sued the clinic where he worked, alleging that the clinic "knew or should have known" that Nuernberger was engaging in harmful sexual activity while treating her. But Trescelli says she had to discourage her. During that time, neither of them would see any other, and she should never tell anyone. Marston, however, testified that Nuernberger had "hugged and kissed her and fondled her breasts," according to an article in the Minneapolis Tribune (Jan. 24, 1981). 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. Experts and some inside the system say that in justifying its decision, UC perpetuated outdated claims about online learning. In 1969, Pandit Arya met Swami Rama, who gave him "one of the highest meditation initiations," in which he experienced himself "as a being of light." His American followers hear the spiritual teachings from his mouth, with his interpretation, and they rarely have the exposure to a variety of gurus, which would teach them to be skeptical of their own guru. 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. Discover our new online platform for community, courses, and content. A system that rewards a particular behavior or person and then arbitrarily ignores or punishes that same behavior or person can quickly lead even healthy individuals to develop profound anxiety and uncertainty-the antithesis of self-confidence. Yet the women never seemed to complain about such treatment, Megan says. If somehow Pandit Rajmani were forced to acknowledge that the women were telling the truth, would this shatter his faith in the guru? Most of the Institute's programs are open to the general public. 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. she remembers him demanding. Himalayan Institute Online Our new online platform for community, courses, and content. "Believing such stories means disbelieving in myself. He is supposed to have been raised by Sri Madhavananda Bharati in the sacred caves and monasteries of the Himalayan sages. She loved him like "a second father," she says, "and the real tragedy is that this is how our relationship ended. Cameroon Himalayan Institute Cameroon Cameroon is in the midst of conflict. Our Honesdale campus continues to be home to a service-driven community of yogis, volunteers, and faculty-in-residence. Himalayan glaciers are melting twice as fast since 2000 as they were in the 25 years before due to human-caused climate change, a 2019 paper published in the journal Science Advances found. 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. Himalayan Institute of Technology Ranking and Awards. "A lot of people have confused the siddhis-the powers to control body, emotions, and mind-with spirituality. How could she be the only one who realized what was going on? 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