A guru has the wisdom of experience and the ancient teachings, so he can provide guidance, Dr. Ballantine says, but students should "judge every [practice] on the basis of your own experience." Finally I found an opportunity to broach the topic of the lawsuit with Carolyn. Ag Innovation Center Business Plan. 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. But after they started saying all these things, I never trusted them anymore. 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.". 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. One of the greatest adepts, teachers, writers, and humanitarians of the 20th century, Swami Rama (19251996) is the founder of the Himalayan Institute. One of them, along with the other women from the tour group, attended the wedding of Swami Rama's son, although the guru is officially supposed to have been celibate since taking his Swami's vows. [2] [ But a deeper anxiety also motivated my visit: I'd heard a rumor that several women, ex-members of the Institute, were taking Carolyn's guru to court on charges of sexual misconduct. The Swami Rama died in 1996 at the age of 69. He says that Nuernberger's one mistake has "ruined his life, in essence, which is really too bad.". Swami Rama's claims to this spiritual background have been questioned by some of his former students. Otherwise& there would be no need for this person to propagate this whole story.". 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. 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 . Our humanitarian projects serve impoverished communities through rural empowerment and environmental regeneration. 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. They enjoy spending their free time adventuring, camping, exploring, and creating memories together. Yet she is vulnerable to feeling re-victimized every time her experience is denied or distorted. 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. Trained to meditate and educated in the scriptures from early childhood, he was able to translate and interpret any of the 20,000 verses from the Vedas by the age of 13, according to a biographical pamphlet put out by the Meditation Center. 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. She began to believe that this man who might have been spiritual at one time was now suffering from feelings he couldn't control. 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. Explore our integrative health services & therapeutic treatments to help restore your natural state of well-being. When he was finished, Rose told them, Swami Rama left her room, saying he's be back the next day. toshiba tv screen goes black after a few minutes. Rather than being a saint, according to Green, Swami Rama is an advanced yogi and "a mortal with some ego problems.". But Trescelli says she had to discourage her. Gurus were supposed to have conquered their desires, but in the spiritual literature they were often portrayed as contradictory, tricking their disciples into enlightenment. First, Robert Tuttle of The Reason Files 2 is reporting the same thing I am hearing from multiple sources. Residents staff the Institute's administration, bookstores, and other small businesses, including Himalayan Publishers and Distributors and an elementary school. The Himalayan Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy is an international non-profit organization, which promotes yoga and holistic health through yoga retreats, residential programs, health products and services, media publications including Yoga International magazine, and humanitarian projects.The institute's main campus is located on (1.6 km 2) in the Pocono Mountains of northeastern . 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. Swami Rama made Carolyn his appointments secretary in August also. 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. When Carolyn had to work, I attended classes in Hatha yoga or read. HIT ranked under Top Commerce Colleges in All India by The Week 2022. He bragged about his sumptuous homes in India and Japan and about his shopping sprees for designer clothes, she says. 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. 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. Join us for studies in the true meaning of yogaincluding asana, meditation, mantra, tantra, sacred scripture, and the art of joyful living. In order to believe in his perfection, they must rationalize behavior that others would judge to be tyrannical, cruel, or self-indulgent. And he abruptly dismissed her. I ask him. 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. 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. Every time he saw her, she says, he told her she was "perfect," as if she had passed some important test. ", Pandit Arya is not so reluctant as Dr. Ballentine to articulate is how one can recognize a worthy guru. Carolyn was raised Catholic, and during high school she explored Transcendental Meditation, Zen Buddhism, Hinduism, and the "Jesus freak" movement. In private sessions, ex-disciples say, Swami Rama has arranged marriages and instructed disciples to break off relationships. Dr. Elmer Green says that he and his wife have heard from a number of women who said they were sexually exploited by Swami Rama. 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. "Even if I found out-how can I find out? ALL NEW! Pandit Tigunait holds two doctorates: one in Sanskrit from the University of Allahabad, India, and one in Oriental Studies from the University of Pennsylvania. Most rapists threaten women with physical violence. Two months after Swami Rama left for India, Carolyn went to Chicago to visit her family for Christmas. Our new online platform for community, courses, and content. 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. And then he departed, accompanied not by Carolyn, as he had promised, but by another "gorgeous" devotee. 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. Rose, they explain, was not a disciple of Swami Rama, but had been invited by family members in the Institute's administration to come to Honesdale for medical treatment. Himalayan Institute Online. 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. 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 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." 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. Himalayan Meditation Institute is dedicated to providing authentic and transformative training in the art and science of meditation. She could not control her emotions, he could not talk to her! Years later, Carolyn told me that four years of discipleship under Swami Rama had taught her to be a successful liar. Carolyn says she spent years blaming herself and trying to rationalize away what she now regards as sexual abuse. Expert wellness consultations direct to your home. The 10-campus system closes a loophole that could have let undergraduates piece together a degree. 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. Study Retreat Wellness Travel Shop About HI ONLINE Program Calendar ALL NEW! 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. Treat yourself to a massage, meditate in the peaceful meditation shrine, or relax in one of the many attractive community spaces available on campus. Pandit Arya has many profound and beautiful things to say about his relationship to his guru when I interview him at the Divya Jyoti yoga center in Napa, California, in May 1989. "A lot of people have confused the siddhis-the powers to control body, emotions, and mind-with spirituality. If somehow Pandit Rajmani were forced to acknowledge that the women were telling the truth, would this shatter his faith in the guru? 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. She thanked me, but assured me I had no reason for concern. 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. 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. Megan* started the Institute's graduate program in Eastern studies in the fall of 1982. -- Swami Rama, "Living With the Himalayan Masters". Or maybe he needs to have sex just to release energy so he can meditate better. "The person wanted something, and the other person did not agree to fulfill their desires," he says. 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. 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. When they have contacted their friends and former colleagues at the Institute, they have been discounted as liars or labeled "emotionally disturbed." Surrender only leads to enlightenment if the "guru within" is strong and well developed. 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. 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. Following on the heels of Karen's and her friend's revelations, several other women and men left the Meditation Center in Minneapolis. 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. Community, Courses, and Content. Our various programms address all aspects of a meditator's life because all of life has an effect on meditation. Two women wrote statements, which said they had discovered that Swami Rama was attempting to "seduce" both of them contemporaneously. Within a sect the guru's authority is often absolute: he rules from the pinnacle of the institutional hierarchy. Swami Rama is supposed to have freed himself from the bonds of karma. Himalayan Institute | Honesdale PA We are happy to bring you a combination of Zoom, In-person, and Hybrid options. 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. Allegations of such abuse have been made against modern yoga gurus such as Bikram . 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. Impact of Accreditation Sanctions on Enrollment. Authentic Ashram Living Then he started giving her practices without any spiritual meaning, she says, and telling her she wasn't doing them right. Anyone can read what you share. A world leader in yoga, meditation, and holistic health, we are dedicated to serving humanity through educational, spiritual, and humanitarian programs. Several former students of Swami Rama granted interviews to Patricia Ann Darling, Ph. That is, an on-going pattern of power abuse within the guru/student relationship. A report has been made to law enforcement, and I'm guessing . Residents staff the Institute's administration, bookstores, and other small businesses, including Himalayan Publishers and Distributors and an elementary school. At the same time, she says, he offered her money and told her he wanted to put her in his will. 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. At a young age, Swami Rama is supposed to have been appointed Shankaracharya of Karvirpitham, an exalted spiritual post. 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. Pandit Rajmani Tigunait is the resident spiritual director of the Honesdale ashram, as well as a member of the Institute's teaching staff. If a hundred people come and say that the day is night and I know that it's not, the voting system doesn't do it here, you know? Marston's lawsuit, he says, was an act of revenge. "Believing such stories means disbelieving in myself. And she would help him write books. 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. The guru spoiled them, they say, calling them his spiritual son and daughter, and soon invited them to come live in Pennsylvania. Our community is held together by dedicated students of the Himalayan Tradition, who value the principles of universal respect and collective responsibility. He is held accountable only to the higher spiritual laws, which he is uniquely able to comprehend. 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. Them contemporaneously was now suffering from feelings he could n't control she began to believe in his.. 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