A report has been made to law enforcement, and I'm guessing . 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. When he told her to visit him at night again, Carolyn says she did not have enough self-confidence to say no, but she hoped that this time he would treat her differently, with more sensitivity and respect. 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. He voluntarily sopped his heart from pumping blood for 17 seconds, and he reportedly demonstrated his telekinetic powers, moving a knitting needle with mental force. 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. Over the past 15 or 20 years, numerous spiritual teachers have admitted to, or been charged with, having sexually exploitative relationships with their female students. They wrote letters to Pandit Usharbudh Arya, their teacher and head of the Meditation Center there, as well as a dozen other people, warning that Swami Rama was a fraud. Host to HI Mission Programs, seminars as well as private events, we offer five fully equipped practice spaces and comfortable, modern guest amenities. 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. He told her he was writing a book of poetry for her, and he offered to find her a husband. 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.". 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. 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. 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. But Mr. Schneider told the jury that evidence indicated the relationship was consensual. 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. 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. 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. 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. But the University of Scranton didn't offer a degree program in Carolyn's area of study, so she saw a way to rationalize leaving the Institute while still saving face; she could still be considered a good disciple if she cold get the guru's blessing to go away to college. During this spiel, she says, he put his hand on her buttocks, but she told him she wasn't buying it. A rash of articles featuring Swami Rama appeared in national magazines, including Time, People, and Playboy. The Himalayan Institute has been and continues to be home to a service-driven community of yogis, volunteers, and faculty-in-residence. Those statements are on file with the cult Awareness network (formerly the citizen's Freedom Foundation) in New York. Swami Rama called a meeting to defend himself. Attempts to verify Swami Rama's educational background have been unsuccessful, according to Vanessa Webber of the Cult Awareness Network. 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. According to Karen and George, no legal action resulted. 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." A saint is a person who does what he says." 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. Ex-members say that Swami Rama also uses his psychological insights to manipulate people. 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 . where I lived for almost 8 years studying and teaching yoga and holistic health. 7,616 were here. Relax, restore, and nourish yourself with a wellness retreat. 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. 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. Companies Himalayan Institute Tell us how to improve this page Here is her report. Most of the former members of the Institute who agreed to be interviewed for this article were also afraid to have their identities revealed; they appear under pseudonyms, marked with an asterisk. Elmer and Alyce Green observed that Swami Rama could produce different brain waves at will, including theta and delta (sleep) waves, while remaining aware of his environment. Community, Courses, and Content. 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. 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. Finally I found an opportunity to broach the topic of the lawsuit with Carolyn. 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.". Cons Not one that I can see. 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. 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. I ask him. Join us in serving a tradition that has served the world selflessly for untold ages. Explore high-quality, unique, practice-enhancing products made for yogis everywhere. Swami Rama has a reputation among his followers as an incredible psychologist who uses his insights to help others. "The person wanted something, and the other person did not agree to fulfill their desires," he says. 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. Instead they deny the experience of the "unenlightened" women who are the guru's victims. 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. Ayurvedic treatments, massage therapy, chiropractic care, and integrative health services at PureRejuv Wellness Center. The original creator of the neti pot, the Himalayan Institute has been offering traditional and modern products for health and spirituality since 1971. toshiba tv screen goes black after a few minutes. Carolyn is not alone. In private sessions, ex-disciples say, Swami Rama has arranged marriages and instructed disciples to break off relationships. Gurus were supposed to have conquered their desires, but in the spiritual literature they were often portrayed as contradictory, tricking their disciples into enlightenment. Swami Rama was the founder of the Himalayan Institute. First, Robert Tuttle of The Reason Files 2 is reporting the same thing I am hearing from multiple sources. Rose said that she struggled, but the guru physically overpowered her, throwing himself on top of her on the bed and forcing her to perform oral sex. Following on the heels of Karen's and her friend's revelations, several other women and men left the Meditation Center in Minneapolis. Born in Northern India, he was raised from early childhood by the Himalayan sage, Bengali Baba. She says he told her to finish her college degree at the University of Scranton while remaining at the Institute. The lawsuit I heard rumors about in New York City never materialized. ", Pandit Arya is not so reluctant as Dr. Ballentine to articulate is how one can recognize a worthy guru. 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. On one occasion, she says, Swami Rama ordered all the women disciples to weed out some roots around his new cabin, telling them they were rooting out their samskaras. After dismissing the other workers, she says he repeated the familiar litany, but this time he slipped in a new message. And there is a statement, 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.'" 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. 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. 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. Spiritual head of the Himalayan Institute, Pandit Tigunait is the successor of Swami Rama of the Himalayas. Rather than being a saint, according to Green, Swami Rama is an advanced yogi and "a mortal with some ego problems.". There she learned Swami Rama's style of "super-conscious" meditation, which she describes as a basic, impersonal training in mental concentration. Carolyn says she spent years blaming herself and trying to rationalize away what she now regards as sexual abuse. 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. At that, she says, he raged at her until she was sobbing, unable to speak a word in her own defense: No! She couldn't make sense out of his behavior, because she found it impossible to believe that it was really about sex-and she repeatedly told him so. When she asked him what she should do with the love letters, she says, Swami Rama would laugh and say, "Oh, these goofy women! The women's fears have aborted projects intended to expose possible exploitation to a wider audience. 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. "Nirvana is one," Carolyn says she told him. 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. How could she be the only one who realized what was going on? When I asked Pandit Arya about the allegations of sexual abuse, he admits that he was very disturbed when he first heard them. His devotees hovered near the ashram's entrance, hoping for final instructions or a blessing from the guru. When she questioned him, Megan says, he became angry and dismissed the women's suffering, saying that a little poison ivy could be good for them. The next day, she says, Swami Rama called her to his office and asked her if anyone had said anything to her. In May, Swami Rama visited the area again. Swami Rama is held by his disciples to be a kind of god: He makes up the rules of the game, he can change them at will, and he cannot be judged by them. Cameroon Himalayan Institute Cameroon Cameroon is in the midst of conflict. Since 1972, Himalayan Institute Excursions have offered purpose-driven journeys to discover the fulfillment your soul is seeking. Megan recalls that in one of her first encounters with Swami Rama, she watched as he humiliated a quiet, withdrawn woman resident. Yoga seminars, retreats, and professional certifications taught by our world-class faculty, designed to bring you the best of an authentic yoga tradition. She recalls that she blushed as she forced out the words: "I think you have been sleeping with other women." In the presence of others, we spoke only of positive or spiritual matters, in the deliberately modulated tones all the residents used. Then, later on, when the right man came along, she would marry and be very happy. 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