In the mythology of the ashram, the guru is the all-powerful, all-knowing father and the disciples are his spiritual children. She began talking about Swami Rama's exploitative behavior with anyone who would listen, especially women who she thought were being victimized. Carolyn went away to college at the end of that year, as her parents expected. One of the greatest adepts, teachers, writers, and humanitarians of the 20th century, Swami Rama (19251996) is the founder of the Himalayan Institute. D., about abuses that allegedly took place in Minneapolis, Chicago, New York City, and India, for a chapter in Darling's doctoral dissertation, "Turning East in the Twin Cities: Converts and Movements in the 1970s" (University of Minnesota, 1987). There's no need for finding out, if I know it is completely wrong.". They know, usually without being told, that if they break the taboo of silence they will be blamed for destroying their spiritual families and the "higher" good those families purportedly do in the world. "I felt two-dimensional, like a piece of paper, a cunt-he didn't care about me. A world leader in yoga, meditation, and holistic health, the Himalayan Institute is a non-profit organization dedicated to serving humanity through educational, spiritual, and humanitarian programs. A saint is a person who does what he says." She was dreamy! 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. Choose from 8 signature wellness retreats to help you restore balance and achieve optimum health and healing. Immerse yourself in a life-changing course of study and get certified in the authentic teachings of yoga and meditation. But ultimately he chose to believe Swami Rama. They are crazy. I ask Dr. Ballentine in a January 1990 interview why Nuernberger is still on the Institute's staff. Rajmani explains the basic goals of the Institute's tradition of yoga: "The most important part of the practice is nonattachment." "Anyone who lives a public life can go through such remarks;& you have heard about all that blackmailing" of famous, rich athletes, he explains to me in the spring of 1989 at the Honesdale ashram. 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. Since she had taken over, everything had been put in order. Carolyn felt important, entitled to be there because she was one of his secretaries. In private sessions, ex-disciples say, Swami Rama has arranged marriages and instructed disciples to break off relationships. Rose spent the next six months moving from place to place, terrified that the Institute network would track her down. Discover our new online platform for community, courses, and content. 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. Carolyn says she spent years blaming herself and trying to rationalize away what she now regards as sexual abuse. 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. RFP & Business Plan for Dairy Processing Investor/Operator. Study Retreat Wellness Travel Shop About HI ONLINE Program Calendar ALL NEW! He would take her to the Orient-Japan and India. 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. My father certainly had sex, and that's why I was born, so will I lose faith in my father? Carolyn stayed at the Institute for three more years, working at a variety of jobs. Some stay longer, for a few weeks or months in the Self-Transformation retreat program. Obedience to the guru's commands is implicitly expected of all long-term residents; former students describe him walking through the main dining room and ordering one person to move to the New York branch, another to change jobs. At a young age, Swami Rama is supposed to have been appointed Shankaracharya of Karvirpitham, an exalted spiritual post. When another married couple who were their friends and fellow students left the ashram suddenly, Karen wrote to them asking why. A leader in the field of yoga, meditation, spirituality, and holistic health, the Himalayan Institute is dedicated to serving humanity through educational, spiritual, and humanitarian . He backed off, Megan says, while telling her that sex wasn't necessary-she could be his special student. A world leader in yoga, meditation, and holistic health, we are dedicated to serving humanity through educational, spiritual, and humanitarian programs. Instead they deny the experience of the "unenlightened" women who are the guru's victims. Carolyn is not alone. In the United States, far from the strong cultural morality of the guru's country of origin, it is not regulated at all. The Meditation Center became affiliated with the Himalayan Institute, and eventually Pandit Arya achieved his dream of having his own ashram in India, when Swami Rama made him president of his Rishikesh ashram. Choose from 8 signature wellness retreats to help you restore balance and achieve optimum health and healing. 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. Cameroon Himalayan Institute Cameroon Cameroon is in the midst of conflict. HIT ranked under Top Commerce Colleges in All India by The Week 2022. Outside of work, Sawana has been married to her wonderful husband since 2008 and together they have 3 beautiful sons. During this spiel, she says, he put his hand on her buttocks, but she told him she wasn't buying it. Shortly after they returned to the U.S., Karen and George say that they and all their correspondents received a bizarre, defamatory letter containing an implicit death threat. Our Honesdale campus continues to be home to a service-driven community of yogis, volunteers, and faculty-in-residence. They introduced her to the guru, and she remembers he made a fuss over her, slapping her cheek lightly and calling her a good girl. This was not true! Nestled in the rolling hills of the Poconos, our stunning 400-acre campus is a gathering place for seekers from around the globe. At about the same time, Carolyn was accepted into the residential program at East West Books Chicago, the Institute's downtown branch. "Even if I found out-how can I find out? Now Megan says that in a different atmosphere, she would have immediately recognized Swami Rama's behavior as sexual harassment or "sadistic manipulation." Initially, Brian says, most of the other directors responded with concern. They would travel together to England. Two women wrote statements, which said they had discovered that Swami Rama was attempting to "seduce" both of them contemporaneously. Megan remembers asking him why he was trying all this on her. Read More Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, PhD, is the spiritual head of the Himalayan Institute and the successor of Swami Rama of the Himalayas. Everyone said you had to surrender to the guru, so she would simply have to follow through with whatever he ordered her to do. Most of the women who say they were abused by Swami Rama express feelings of fear, frustration, and betrayal. 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. Carolyn was raised Catholic, and during high school she explored Transcendental Meditation, Zen Buddhism, Hinduism, and the "Jesus freak" movement. The victim's confusion and loss of trust are compounded when her community refuses to acknowledge her suffering. Teaching since 1971, the Himalayan Institute offers a wide variety of wellness supplies. She loved him like "a second father," she says, "and the real tragedy is that this is how our relationship ended. When he was finished, Rose told them, Swami Rama left her room, saying he's be back the next day. But their encounters were exactly the same as before, she says-emotionally impersonal and sexually mechanical. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. 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. Our humanitarian projects serve impoverished communities through rural empowerment and environmental regeneration. Swami Rama, she says, would extol his own sexual abilities but tell her she was bad at making love. He also has the integrity to admit that if they were true, it would be very terrible, and a violation of the teaching that says one should treat all women as daughters. He and Pandit Rajmani say that a guru is "that which dispels darkness." 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. But after they started saying all these things, I never trusted them anymore. "Believing such stories means disbelieving in myself. Maybe it's an honor that this great yogi asked me of all his students to serve him in this way. When she asked him what she should do with the love letters, she says, Swami Rama would laugh and say, "Oh, these goofy women! Shortly after they started studying with Pandit Usharbudh Arya at the Meditation Center in Minneapolis, he introduced them to his guru, Swami Rama. He bragged about his sumptuous homes in India and Japan and about his shopping sprees for designer clothes, she says. Health Clinics Health Education Public Libraries School of Carpentry Despite this, our rural empowerment programs continue to thrive and grow as we work towards our goal of fighting poverty, illiteracy, and inequality through education, health care, and job creation. He told her he was writing a book of poetry for her, and he offered to find her a husband. 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. 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.". She was feeling so disgusted with her body and afraid of the guru's humiliating comments that one night she couldn't face going to his room, she says. "Nirvana is one," Carolyn says she told him. The Himalayan Institute and its varied activities and programs exemplify the spiritual heritage of mankind that unites East and West, spirituality and science, ancient wisdom and modern technology. Our Honesdale campus continues to be home to a service-driven community of yogis, volunteers, and faculty-in-residence. 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.". 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. 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. 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. Now she says that those who have allowed the abuses to continue unchecked are responsible for destroying the Institute's integrity. He reportedly sat down on a chair next to her bed and proceeded to make sexual advances. Similarly, a woman who had been repeatedly abused by Sri Swami Rama of The Himalayan Institute when she was 19 years old was awarded $1.9 million. At the same time, she felt anxious, because she'd seen how severe Swami Rama could be with those closest to him. Still, she felt she had no right to question the guru's actions. In the presence of others, we spoke only of positive or spiritual matters, in the deliberately modulated tones all the residents used. See the article in its original context from. Born in Northern India, he was raised from early childhood by the Himalayan sage, Bengali Baba. 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. 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 something, which is truth, cannot be falsified by having one hundred witnesses. She listened calmly as I admitted that I'd worried she might be a victim. They rarely had to do the menial chores performed by other residents; Brian was encouraged to study the sacred texts and write a book, while Terry got training as a Montessori teacher and started a school for the Institute's children. Numerous former students say they left the Institute because they were sexually exploited by Swami Rama or knew someone who was. 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. 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. Or maybe he needs to have sex just to release energy so he can meditate better. $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. And she would help him write books. 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. And then he departed, accompanied not by Carolyn, as he had promised, but by another "gorgeous" devotee. 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. Yoga seminars, retreats, and professional certifications taught by our world-class faculty, designed to bring you the best of an authentic yoga tradition. His disciples generally agree that the only reason his soul still inhabits a physical body is because he wants to help others achieve liberation from maya, the realm of illusion. During the next few months, Carolyn says, Swami Rama bade her visit him in his private quarters once every couple of weeks, either after lunch or after evening prayers; he also made it her job to buy condoms. For a time, she says, she considered getting a pistol to carry to work. Back; 2022 Clean Water and Public Health Fund; Make a Donation; Blog; Search for: Log in . "Before [these women] started saying these things, I also had a very good feeling that these people were wonderful people and they would never lie and they were trustworthy people. Himalayan Institute Online Our new online platform for community, courses, and content. Our new online platform for community, courses, and content. 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. Or, in the words of Rudolph Ballentine, M.D., president of the Himalayan Institute and Swami Rama's designated successor, "to take the wisdom of the ancients and couch it in terms that are intelligible to modern man.". The two women who wrote statements for the Cult Awareness Movement were among those involved: One stated that she was a patient at the Institute's holistic health center in New York City, and the other stated she was 17 years old when Swami Rama initiated a sexual relationship with her. 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. But to accept a tuition-free second year, or even to leave the Institute quietly, Megan says, would have meant giving tacit approval to the continuing exploitation. When the manipulation started to involve her meditation and spiritual practices, she says, she decided to confide in one man who had been at the Institute for a long time and who was planning to leave. 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. A report has been made to law enforcement, and I'm guessing . In recent years, the harm caused to women by "sex in the forbidden zone" has been recognized in their codes of ethics by most universities and professional associations, including the American Medical Association and the American Psychological Association. Ayurvedic treatments, massage therapy, chiropractic care, and integrative health services at PureRejuv Wellness Center. At the same time, she says, he offered her money and told her he wanted to put her in his will. Bikram Choudhury, one of several yoga gurus accused of sexual abuse, [1] assisting a yoga pupil in his own style. His devotees hovered near the ashram's entrance, hoping for final instructions or a blessing from the guru. Carolyn says she knew that Swami Rama often promised his disciples he would take them to India or appoint them to important positions within the Institute-promises that rarely materialized. She recalls that he said they would become very close, their bodies would come together, and then they would part. Early the next morning, she says, he announced to her that she was going to leave; he never set up the promised program. But within the Institute, she says, everyone else seemed to accept the guru's sexually suggestive behavior and humiliation of women. She says he arranged for her to meet him at the Gramercy Park Hotel and instructed her not to call him Swami in public. The Institute's program is no longer accredited by the University of Scranton. 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. Himalayan Institute Humanitarian is a 501(c)(3) public charity supporting the educational and charitable projects of the Himalayan Institute. 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." But after two unsatisfying years, she left college and returned to the Chicago area. At that, she says, he raged at her until she was sobbing, unable to speak a word in her own defense: No! She would start with handling the appointments and then she would make his plane reservations, scheduling lecture tours. Join us in serving a tradition that has served the world selflessly for untold ages. "The person wanted something, and the other person did not agree to fulfill their desires," he says. Given a mantra but little guidance, Carolyn dutifully performed her assigned practices, hoping that Swami Rama's "scientific" approach to yoga would eventually yield results. No one had thoroughly investigated, until journalist Katharine Webster decided to spend two years researching their allegations. In some states, a patient has the right to sue her doctor or psychotherapist for malpractice even if she originally consented to sex, because people under psychological or medical treatment are considered too vulnerable and dependent to give free and full consent. Once there, Carolyn devoted herself to her yoga practices and threw herself into her assigned jobs. 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. -- Swami Rama, "Living With the Himalayan Masters". Gurus were supposed to have conquered their desires, but in the spiritual literature they were often portrayed as contradictory, tricking their disciples into enlightenment. After dismissing the other workers, she says he repeated the familiar litany, but this time he slipped in a new message. So far, none of their attempts to communicate their experiences has been met by official Institute willingness to investigate their charges. She specializes in Myotherapy, Deep Tissue, Prenatal, Swedish Relaxation, Sports Therapy, and Hot Stone Massage. Publications Health Products Explore high-quality, unique, practice-enhancing products made for yogis everywhere. At bottom, however, she believed her feelings didn't matter. One day Swami Rama called for her and told her he wouldn't be taking her to India that autumn. Select a topic to see what people are saying about different issues Mission and values Explore company values, community, the relevance of the mission and moving on. We partner with rural communities to provide health services, public libraries, and sustainable employment opportunities. From her childhood Carolyn had been steeped in Catholic faith and educated in scientific skepticism; now it seemed the Institute could help her harmonize these two seemingly contradictory ways of perceiving the world. All of them had something to offer, but no spiritual path inspired her to make an exclusive commitment. 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. Following on the wave of favorable publicity, Swami Rama founded the Himalayan Institute in Illinois in 1971. After a sleepless night, she said she snuck out at 5:00 or 6:00 a.m. and drove to Brian and Terry's empty house in Honesdale. As the couple started making arrangements to move to England, they received another blow. Later, many of the women broke out in head-to-toe swelling and rashes from what had in fact been poison ivy roots. 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. Shortly after Marston filed her suit in 1978, Nuernberger moved to Honesdale, where he is currently a member of the Institute's teaching staff. A producer for "60 Minutes" was reportedly unable to complete her documentary on Swami Rama when the women involved backed out and refused to appear on camera. Then, later on, when the right man came along, she would marry and be very happy. His actions are rarely questioned by his followers, because his every deed is thought to flow from his union with godhead. Pandit Rajmani says he also has concrete reasons to know that Swami Rama could not be sleeping with his disciples. 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 thanked me, but assured me I had no reason for concern. A rash of articles featuring Swami Rama appeared in national magazines, including Time, People, and Playboy. In the spring of 1983, Swami Rama began to court her again, she says: He told her that she would help him prepare a book of sacred poetry he was writing, and he assured her repeatedly that he would take her to India the following autumn. Our endeavors are distinguished by their living connection to an ancient wisdom tradition of the Himalayan Masters, expressed through a unique offering of online and in-person mission programs. Karen and George say their friends told them that the woman had been pressured to have sex with Swami Rama even after their marriage, which the guru had arranged. Up to that point I had felt like he was a guru, that he cared about me at least, but no, he was just using me.". Swamis, he explains, are renunciates who take vows of abstinence which include giving up sex, wine, and red meat, as well as other stimulants to the physical senses. That is, an on-going pattern of power abuse within the guru/student relationship. 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. His response: "Listen, there are certain things which are based on witnesses-those are facts. Live online programs, on-demand courses, and hundreds of yoga and meditation classes. What a foolish woman! No, he says: "Even if it happened, what's the big deal?& People say that Mahatma Gandhi& slept with women. Meditation. She took a meditation class at the alternative high school program she attended, and one evening her teachers invited her to a lecture by their guru, Swami Rama, who was visiting the Chicago area. "A lot of people have confused the siddhis-the powers to control body, emotions, and mind-with spirituality. Experts and some inside the system say that in justifying its decision, UC perpetuated outdated claims about online learning. The yogis, he says, have demonstrated these abilities in the past and continue to do so. 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. Some were afraid of Institute retaliation; most were afraid of hurting their families, who in some cases do not know about the abuses the women suffered; still others were worried that their professional reputations would be harmed. ALL NEW! ALL NEW! Megan went through a brief but painful and confusing time during which she doubted her own feelings and perceptions. Ag Innovation Center Business Plan. Himalayan Institute Online. During that time, neither of them would see any other, and she should never tell anyone. she wondered. The original creator of the neti pot, the Himalayan Institute has been offering traditional and modern products for health and spirituality since 1971. Our various programms address all aspects of a meditator's life because all of life has an effect on meditation. And that was the first time I realized what all that stuff meant-the other women, the 'goofy' file, and the rumors about the lawsuit. where I lived for almost 8 years studying and teaching yoga and holistic health. 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. Himalayan Institute locations 3.6 Honesdale, PA Show all locations What's being discussed at Himalayan Institute? [2] [ HIT ranked 39 th under Best Hotel Management Colleges in All India by The Week 2022.; HIT ranked 23rd under Top Private Hotel Management Colleges in All India and 11 th in North Zone by The Week 2022.; HIT is ranked as one of the most preferred Hotel Management Colleges . 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