Then he started giving her practices without any spiritual meaning, she says, and telling her she wasn't doing them right. At that, she says, he raged at her until she was sobbing, unable to speak a word in her own defense: No! Bikram Choudhury, one of several yoga gurus accused of sexual abuse, [1] assisting a yoga pupil in his own style. 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. 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. Meanwhile, Swami Rama had appointed her as registrar of the graduate program, replacing a long-time woman disciple who was being kicked out of the Institute for no apparent reason. 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. In private sessions, ex-disciples say, Swami Rama has arranged marriages and instructed disciples to break off relationships. Numerous former students say they left the Institute because they were sexually exploited by Swami Rama or knew someone who was. And I feared that Carolyn-young beautiful, idealistic, and worshipful of Swami Rama, the Institute's founder and spiritual leader-could be vulnerable to such exploitation. Burnett is a postdoctoral fellow in Houston's department of education leadership and . Community, Courses, and Content. The Himalayan Institute community reaches across the entire globe. The Swami, she says, bragged to a crowd of disciples that the woman would do whatever he told her, then put his dog's collar and leash around her neck and walked her back and forth, while the others laughed. 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. 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. 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. 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. Like incest victims, women who say they have been sexually abused by their gurus are sworn to silence by their abusers. First, Robert Tuttle of The Reason Files 2 is reporting the same thing I am hearing from multiple sources. Still, she felt she had no right to question the guru's actions. Many of those beliefs are based on Hindu and Buddhist teachings about the nature of the guru. 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. We partner with rural communities to provide health services, public libraries, and sustainable employment opportunities. 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. Megan*, a former graduate student in the Eastern Studies program, wrote a letter to the Jesuit administration of the University of Scranton saying that Swami Rama was subjecting women students to sexual exploitation. I ask Dr. Ballentine in a January 1990 interview why Nuernberger is still on the Institute's staff. Early the next morning, she says, he announced to her that she was going to leave; he never set up the promised program. He explains that Nuernberger was just a graduate student, inexperienced and lacking in professional judgment, when the incident with Marston occurred: "At a time when he was learning to be a therapist and thought that someone is asking for you to reach out, you reach out and you touch them and you let them see your feelings, and I think that was very bad." Once there, Carolyn devoted herself to her yoga practices and threw herself into her assigned jobs. 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. Its mission, according to the Articles of Incorporation, was "to make known to the members and people in general the real, synthetic, and harmonious view of world religions and philosophy in terms of modern scientific achievements and undertake researches for all around ethical, social, economical, and spiritual development of humanity to attain world peace, international integration, understanding, and spiritual awakening of the human race." Education Advocacy I might doubt my own perception, I might doubt my own eyes, but I cannot doubt that strength which has given me everything.". Swami Rama made Carolyn his appointments secretary in August also. The original creator of the neti pot, the Himalayan Institute has been offering traditional and modern products for health and spirituality since 1971. Health Clinics Health Education Public Libraries School of Carpentry Carolyn says she told him no, it "just didn't feel right." 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. 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." 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 . 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. He rapidly attracted a following that included many graduate and professional students. Our humanitarian projects serve impoverished communities through rural empowerment and environmental regeneration. 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. Put that letter in the 'goofy file.'" 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. Several months later, the two couples met up again. Brian says he refused to tell Rose's story in such an atmosphere. 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. My initial experience with yoga in the 1990's at the Himalayan Institute of Buffalo led me to making a radical shift in lifestyle and moving to the Institute's educational headquarters in Honesdale, P.A. 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." Himalayan Institute Online. But Mr. Schneider told the jury that evidence indicated the relationship was consensual. She never received a response. 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. Publications Health Products Explore high-quality, unique, practice-enhancing products made for yogis everywhere. HIT ranked under Top Commerce Colleges in All India by The Week 2022. Carolyn had sought a consultation with Pandit Rajmani, who told her that Megan was either lying because she was "on an ego trip," or fantasizing a sexual encounter that had never taken place. 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. He would take her to the Orient-Japan and India. Most rapists threaten women with physical violence. Meditation. Even so, it was a blow to find out that she wasn't particularly special: Swami Rama apparently had other "spiritual courtesans." Some stay longer, for a few weeks or months in the Self-Transformation retreat program. Unfortunately, there is some mystery surrounding its founder, Swami Rama, and possible connection with drug abuse and sexual indecency. Our new online platform for community, courses, and content. To my relief, I could detect no flash of recognition, guilt, fear, or anger in Carolyn's eyes. 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. Megan went through a brief but painful and confusing time during which she doubted her own feelings and perceptions. He backed off, Megan says, while telling her that sex wasn't necessary-she could be his special student. When another married couple who were their friends and fellow students left the ashram suddenly, Karen wrote to them asking why. In my interviews with current and former members of the Institute, I heard an almost unvarying litany of beliefs about Swami Rama's abilities. 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. 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. At the same time, she felt anxious, because she'd seen how severe Swami Rama could be with those closest to him. himalayan institute of modern arts & learning (HIMAL) Giving back through life-changing experiences. He is also head of the Institute's Holistic Studies (formerly Eastern Studies) program and has written a number of scholarly books on yoga philosophy. This was not true! And he abruptly dismissed her. Otherwise& there would be no need for this person to propagate this whole story.". 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. The man, she says, informed her of Swami Rama's long history of alleged sexual misconduct. The jury called the abuse "spiritual incest . Rajmani explains the basic goals of the Institute's tradition of yoga: "The most important part of the practice is nonattachment." Now she says that those who have allowed the abuses to continue unchecked are responsible for destroying the Institute's integrity. Swami Rama was the founder of the Himalayan Institute. The victim's confusion and loss of trust are compounded when her community refuses to acknowledge her suffering. 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). 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. Carolyn says she spent years blaming herself and trying to rationalize away what she now regards as sexual abuse. 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. 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. Companies Himalayan Institute Tell us how to improve this page Carolyn and others say Megan caused a scandal in the Honesdale ashram by breaking the silence surrounding Swami Rama's sexual behavior. Megan* started the Institute's graduate program in Eastern studies in the fall of 1982. One evening she went out to dinner with Martha*, an old friend from East West Books Chicago. 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. 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. 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. Everyone said you had to surrender to the guru, so she would simply have to follow through with whatever he ordered her to do. 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.
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