He is also supposed to have graduated from a homeopathic medical school in India, and studied at Hamburg University, the University of Utrecht, and Oxford University. People say that Mahatma Gandhi slept with women. 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. Please read the series At the Feet of a Himalayan Master. 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. [2][R 1][R 2] However, in 1987 two of his closest followers left his Himalayan Institute when they learnt that part of his official biography had been "fabricated"; further, Vanessa Webber of the Cult Awareness Network has stated that his academic background could not be verified. Sexual contract between gurus and their American disciples is not a new or rare phenomenon. Yet the Institute's success comes at a high cost for many of those involved. Born into a poor Brahman (the highest-ranking social class) family, Ramakrishna had little formal schooling. So far 2 volumes of memoirs by different disciples have been published by Swami Rama Centre at the Himalayan Institute Hospital Trust in Dehradun. Rather than being a saint, according to Green, Swami Rama is an advanced yogi and "a mortal with some ego problems.". He is held accountable only to the higher spiritual laws, which he is uniquely able to comprehend. Rose spent the next six months moving from place to place, terrified that the Institute network would track her down. His body was buried in Krishna Balaram Mandir in Vrindavan. "I felt two-dimensional, like a piece of paper, a cunt-he didn't care about me. Many of them say they feared his wrath when they were disciples, and several still believe he has the power to inflict harm or illness on them from a distance. 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. Because I do not want to find out. The letter is curt in tone. The guru spoiled them, they say, calling them his spiritual son and daughter, and soon invited them to come live in Pennsylvania. He was soon reportedly adopted there by "one of the greatest masters of the Himalayas," Bengali Baba. 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. Because that's my whole life Even if I found out - how can I find out? The narrator says again that every person who Ravana sent into battle didn't return. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Hughes, who ran East West Books Chicago and then worked as publicity and sales director of Himalayan Publishers and Distributors, now has a masters degree in counseling and hosts a successful TV series in Memphis, Tennessee: Total Health and Relaxation: An Ounce of Prevention." [2][11] The journalist Katharine Webster stated in Yoga Journal in 1990 that women had since the early 1970s made claims of sexual abuse against him, and that since the matter had never been investigated, she had spent two years researching it. At the time of death she went into deep samadhi and consciously dropped her body. When I ask him if he would recognize the truth if a genuine victim approached him, he admits it's possible that he wouldn't: "I have yet to see a case where I've seen him do something that was for his own benefit or gratification at the expense of another person. But still, she was afraid to leave the community she'd been part of for so long and reenter a world that had practically forgotten her existence. There she learned Swami Rama's style of "super-conscious" meditation, which she describes as a basic, impersonal training in mental concentration. New York: Random House, 1976. 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. Residents are expected to donate a large portion of their labor, and they must sacrifice personal freedoms and privacy. 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. Box 148252. Truth alone is the real teacher and master" - and asking for an explanation of the women's stories and challenging a possible Institute "cover-up" on professional ethical grounds. 3 After her death, the walls of that room in which she lived vibrated with the sound of her mantra. Most of the women who say they were abused by Swami Rama express feelings of fear, frustration, and betrayal. She began talking about Swami Rama's exploitative behavior with anyone who would listen, especially women who she thought were being victimized. In his short lifetime, he spread Indian culture and spirituality all over the world. Jesus demonstrated his knowledge of these methods when he brought Lazarus back to life. Just, as we see from the excerpt of Skandamahpuram, that Lakshman's body vanished as he fell dead, so we may infer logically for Rama too. All of them had something to offer, but no spiritual path inspired her to make an exclusive commitment. (April 12, 2023). Marston's lawsuit, he says, was an act of revenge. Dr. Ballentine denies sending out copies of Hughes's letter: 'I didn't do that. From the 1970s onwards, there were persistent allegations of sexual abuse of his followers;[2] in 1997 a woman won a lawsuit against him for multiple sexual assaults. Two years ago. Both these branches of yogic science are exclusively known to a fortunate few in the Himalayas and Tibet. Brian sued Swami Rama, and eventually the guru settled out of court for the full amount. In order to believe in his perfection, they must rationalize behavior that others would judge to be tyrannical, cruel, or self-indulgent. [2] The official biography states that when he was 28 he became the Shankaracharya or spiritual leader at Karvirpitham, part of Sringeri Sharada Peetham in Karnataka, South India, demonstrating extensive knowledge of ancient texts to qualify, and holding the position from 1949 to 1952. Boyd, Doug. The mother of a famous psychiatrist, Dr. Whitacre, had practised meditation for many years. According to her anonymous correspondent, "the Himalayan Institute and Swami Rama are one and the same," and Susan's action could destroy "the unselfish work of many people.". Ex-members say he also bends the rules and bestows privileges on his favorites, who may in turn enforce rules, which they do not follow. 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. ." Pandit Arya reportedly alternated between disbelieving and believing the growing number of his female students who told him that Swami Rama had sexually harassed or abused them. Shri Swami Rama clearly understood that Health, Education and Livelihood skills form a triangular primacy and that holistic development . Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology. ), In 1852 poverty forced Ramkumar and Ramakrishna to leave their village to seek employment in Calcutta (now Kolkata). 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. Dr. Bal-lcntinc's response was reluctant: "It is only in view of your many years of association with the Institute that I have decided to take the time to reply to your letter of 22 May. She recalls that she blushed as she forced out the words: "I think you have been sleeping with other women." Honesdale, Pa.: Himalayan Institute, 1978. At this time one of us three was destined to leave: he (grandmaster), I or yourself (referring to me). 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. Otherwise there would be no need for this person to propagate this whole story.". Allegations of sexual abuse by Swami Rama have followed on the heels of the Institute's success like a shadow. He dictated the instructions for his several hundred organizations to his secretaries. 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. 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. Women need to be informed that this could happen to them-be it with Swami Rama or any man in a position of power-so they will be able to see it coming and avoid it. [2][7], Widely reported in the mainstream media, he acquired a reputation for achieving remarkable psychosomatic states; the New York Times journalist and author William J. Then, later on, when the right man came along, she would marry and be very happy. He and Pandit Rajmani say that a guru is "that which dispels darkness." Someone informed me of this and I could not believe it. At some point, we ran into Swami Rama in a hallway. 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. 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. We kept it under observation for three days. Mother Sita that she got absorbed in the earth after its explosion, but when asked the question of when Lord Rama died, Swami Satyendra Das ji says that Lord Rama The description of the reason and method of his going to heaven is found in Valmiki Ramayana, but no one knows the date when he went. The Ramakrishna Math and Mission is the main organisation founded by Swami Vivekananda in 1897. But the publicity surrounding the Menninger Foundation experiments gained Swami Rama an enviable "scientific" credibility in the eyes of the general public. 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. I said, Maharaj ji, then grant me the healing power and I will use it to heal you. Terry, who is now a practicing psychotherapist, says she believes Swami Rama's behavior is compulsive-he can't help it." Sex with a guru is a form of spiritual incest. Is it not better to follow someone who has charted the path?". I brought one, personally cut it with a sharp blade into three parts, and scattered them at a distance of ten feet. "By their fruits you shall know them," he says, paraphrasing the Bible. 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. His best known work is Living With Himalayan Masters; the cultural historian Alistair Shearer calls it "an influential autobiography". 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." When she asked him what she should do with the love letters, she says, Swami Rama would laugh and say, "Oh, these goofy women! Those statements are on file with the cult Awareness network (formerly the citizen's Freedom Foundation) in New York. And Carolyn's residential Program supervisor told her that the scandal was "a big test for all of us and a cleansing for the Institute - we'll see who stays.". Swami Rama's and the Himalayan Institute's mission is to create a bridge between East and West, spirituality and science, and ancient wisdom and modern technology. He bade us good-bye and left guidance as to what to do with his body if he were to leave it. [2][3] Abuses alleged to have taken place against former students of Swami Rama in Chicago, in Minneapolis, in New York, and in India in the 1970s were documented by Patricia Ann Darling in a chapter of her 1987 University of Minnesota PhD thesis. These are also available through Lotus Press in USA. With great concern I asked him how he was. We heard nothing from him after he left the USA. 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. 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.". ", Shortly after Pandit Rajmani introduced her to Swami Rama, Megan says, the guru called her into his private quarters and told her that they'd been together in a past life, that he'd waited to meet her again in this lifetime, and that now they were reunited. And then he departed, accompanied not by Carolyn, as he had promised, but by another "gorgeous" devotee. Such a relationship, instead of giving the woman the healing or validation she seeks, reinforces her feeling that the only thing of value she has to offer a man with worldly power is her body. The women's fears have aborted projects intended to expose possible exploitation to a wider authence. Similarly, gurus in the Buddhist and Hindu traditions are supposed to be examples of self-mastery and right living. Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology. Pandit Rajmani cannot entertain the notion that the women's stories could be true. 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. But the purified ego is a means in discriminating real Self from not-self-real Self from mere self. They resided in their own house in Honesdale, unencumbered by the strict rules of the residential program. During this spiel, she says, he put his hand on her buttocks, but she told him she wasn't buying it. 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. 2019Encyclopedia.com | All rights reserved. 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. Atin Ghosh with the monks in belur on Saturday, Copyright 2023 Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All rights reserved. Instead they deny the experience of the "unenlightened" women who are the guru's victims. Sri Rama didn't commit suicide, he maybe said to have taken the 'jala-samadhi' as a part of his Mahaprasthana leela, where on entering the Sarayu river he appeared in his original form of God Vishnu himself. The sound tic came from the cracking of the skull as he left his body through the brahmarandhra. [1] He moved to America in 1969, initially teaching yoga at the YMCA, and founding the Himalayan Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy in Illinois in 1971; its headquarters moved to its current location in Honesdale, Pennsylvania in 1977. Hughes is not so easily coerced into silence: he says he plans to continue to press the Institute's administration to fulfill iLs edii-cal obligations to investigate the women's complaints and put a stop to any abuse. Updates? Well-to-do New Yorkers flock to Honesdale on weekends for seminars in stress reduction, meditation, and health and nutrition. Glenview, Ill.: Himalayan Institute, 1976. She could not control her emotions, he could not talk to her! To the ordinary mind this seems like a fantasy. Tibetan Buddhism he was critical of the tendency for yogis to use supernatural feats to demonstrate their enlightenment, arguing that these only demonstrated the ability to perform a feat. He promised her he'd set up a complete, personalized yoga program for her there-a prescribed thet, special yoga postures and meditation practices-as well as a game plan for her higher education and future career. In March 1978, she says, Swami Rama came to Glenview and initiated her. The Muslims draw out the liquid and call it pani. [34] [35] [36] Slavery The Ramakrishna Order also played an important role in the spread of Hindu ideas and practices in the West, particularly in the United States. Soon Carolyn noticed she wasn't the only woman being favored by the guru; he was also paying attention to Megan and Nirvana. We were to fly out on 17th December 1980. 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. She says he arranged for her to meet him at the Gramercy Park Hotel and instructed her not to call him Swami in public. [7][8] He was seen to be able to produce different brain waves at will. Fortified by their mutual discovery, Karen says, the two couples undertook to inform their fellow students back home in Minneapolis. His response: "Listen, there are certain things which are based on witnesses - those are facts. 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. She did receive an anonymous letter from "a friend" in May 1990, warning her that the Institute had contacted "one of the most vicious lawyers in New York City" and that it planned a defamation action against her if she continued her "harassment." "Rama, Swami (1925-1996) In mid-autumn, the day came for Swami Rama's annual trip to India. One woman Institute member, who was desperate to talk with someone but afraid to give her name, called twice. He spoke Bengali and knew neither English nor Sanskrit. YOGANANDA (18931952) was one of the earliest and most influential of the Hindu gurus to come to the West. ", Why would the women want to blackmail Swami Rama? And he abruptly dismissed her. 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. 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. Formal schooling, they must sacrifice personal freedoms and privacy had little formal schooling the of! Are the guru ; he was soon reportedly adopted there by & quot ; one the! Felt two-dimensional, like a shadow the `` unenlightened '' women who are the 's. 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