himalayan institute scandal

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." 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. She began to believe that this man who might have been spiritual at one time was now suffering from feelings he couldn't control. Yoga seminars, retreats, and professional certifications taught by our world-class faculty, designed to bring you the best of an authentic yoga tradition. As an enlightened being, he is thought to be beyond the judgment of ordinary mortals, their laws and morality. 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 . 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. 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 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. "The real guru is within," Dr. Ballentine says, "that still small voice within you." February 27, 2023. "By their fruits you shall know them," he says, paraphrasing the Bible. He is supposed to have been raised by Sri Madhavananda Bharati in the sacred caves and monasteries of the Himalayan sages. 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. 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. Our humanitarian projects serve impoverished communities through rural empowerment and environmental regeneration. The original creator of the neti pot, the Himalayan Institute has been offering traditional and modern products for health and spirituality since 1971. According to the story Terry and Brian say Rose later told them, late one night Swami Rama tapped at the door of her room and then walked in on her. I ask him. She believes Swami Rama was trying to buy her collusion, as he had bought the collusion of the Institute's staff and many residents. She asked him to give her a homeopathic remedy for the itching, she says, but he refused and turned away, dismissing her. Nestled in the rolling hills of the Poconos, our stunning 400-acre campus is a gathering place for seekers from around the globe. Dr. Ballentine, who says he studied psychology at the Sorbonne and completed his training in psychiatry at Louisiana State University, defends Nuernberger. Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, PhD, is the spiritual head of the Himalayan Institute and the successor of Swami Rama of the Himalayas. Meditation. 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. "A lot of people have confused the siddhis-the powers to control body, emotions, and mind-with spirituality. Some stay longer, for a few weeks or months in the Self-Transformation retreat program. This was not true! Impact of Accreditation Sanctions on Enrollment. 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. 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. My father certainly had sex, and that's why I was born, so will I lose faith in my father? Years later, Carolyn told me that four years of discipleship under Swami Rama had taught her to be a successful liar. "This sudden animosity indicates that there is something fishy in the statement of this person. Choose from 8 signature wellness retreats to help you restore balance and achieve optimum health and healing. But the followers of such "enlightened" men are usually reluctant to find fault with them, since to do so could invalidate the students' own years of study and devotion. 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. You're bound to get mixed up. In the presence of others, we spoke only of positive or spiritual matters, in the deliberately modulated tones all the residents used. The jury called the abuse "spiritual incest . Arya, however, says that much of Darling's information is inaccurate. Had anyone spoken to her? He cannot disbelieve his guru. He bragged about his sumptuous homes in India and Japan and about his shopping sprees for designer clothes, she says. 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. Since she had taken over, everything had been put in order. He says that Nuernberger's one mistake has "ruined his life, in essence, which is really too bad.". In her lawsuit, the plaintiff said the swami sexually assaulted her 30 times while she was attending the institute in the spring and summer of 1993. In his enlightened state, they believe, he could never commit any selfish acts, which would create new karmic burdens. Expert wellness consultations direct to your home. Tall and imposing, he had the sleek look of a successful man in his late 50s, at the peak of his power. Irwin Schneider, the lawyer for the Himalayan Institute, conceded that it was morally wrong for the Swami Rama to have sex with the woman from North Carolina, a 19-year-old student at the time. "I felt two-dimensional, like a piece of paper, a cunt-he didn't care about me. Brian says he did not realize at the time that a conviction for fraud could have lost the Institute its federal tax-exempt status as an educational institution. She began talking about Swami Rama's exploitative behavior with anyone who would listen, especially women who she thought were being victimized. Himalayan Meditation Institute is dedicated to providing authentic and transformative training in the art and science of meditation. Sanctions on an institution can cause students to look elsewhere for higher education. A saint is a person who does what he says." ALL NEW! 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. The same spirit of community and service that fuels our headquarters in Honesdale, PA, can be found in these dedicated affiliate centers of practice. Megan recalls that in one of her first encounters with Swami Rama, she watched as he humiliated a quiet, withdrawn woman resident. Who? Community, Courses, and Content. He is held accountable only to the higher spiritual laws, which he is uniquely able to comprehend. He laughed, Megan says, and told her that the women didn't know what they were weeding. Now Megan says that in a different atmosphere, she would have immediately recognized Swami Rama's behavior as sexual harassment or "sadistic manipulation." Later, many of the women broke out in head-to-toe swelling and rashes from what had in fact been poison ivy roots. A week later, Megan blew the lid off Swami Rama's private life, confirming what Carolyn already knew in her heart. 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 . But the siddhis can be an ego trap. Well organized, fine atmosphere, and a strong community. One day Swami Rama called for her and told her he wouldn't be taking her to India that autumn. So far, none of their attempts to communicate their experiences has been met by official Institute willingness to investigate their charges. "I only needed one person to corroborate my experience," Megan says now. 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.". 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. In my interviews with current and former members of the Institute, I heard an almost unvarying litany of beliefs about Swami Rama's abilities. Finally, she obtained his permission. Both women and men say they blamed themselves and their own spiritual obtuseness when they repeatedly failed to discern and follow the shifting rules. 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. Initially, Brian says, most of the other directors responded with concern. In March 1978, she says, Swami Rama came to Glenview and initiated her. He said, "We must build a center of life which will be an important bridge between East . "If the guru's instruction leads to a deeper peace, freedom from conflict, a deepening of meditation, harmony in relationships - all of these. 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. Finally I found an opportunity to broach the topic of the lawsuit with Carolyn. The original creator of the neti pot, the Himalayan Institute has been offering traditional and modern products for health and spirituality since 1971. His students believe he is able to read minds and manipulate physical reality with his advanced yogic powers; thus they believe he can heal sickness with the power of the "superconscious" mind. State licensing boards may take away a professional's license to practice if he (or she) is found guilty of "inappropriate sexual contact," which may include everything from verbal sexual innuendos to a long-term sexual liaison with a client or patient. Discover our new online platform for community, courses, and content. Each of the women I interviewed described how he would discern her particular needs and self-doubts and manipulate her spiritual beliefs or naivet in order to exploit her sexually-he has an uncanny ability to suit his approach to each victim, they say. 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. Ultimately, the woman had revealed the liaison to her husband. Explore our integrative health services & therapeutic treatments to help restore your natural state of well-being. Because I do not want to find out. https://himalayaninstitute.start.page || Yoga. This seemingly whimsical application of standards demoralized many of the ex-members I spoke with and led many to resent the members of Swami Rama's inner circle. Ayurvedic treatments, massage therapy, chiropractic care, and integrative health services at PureRejuv Wellness Center. Surrender only leads to enlightenment if the "guru within" is strong and well developed. 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.". Himalayan Institute Online. 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. Brian and Terry say her family members at the Institute harassed her by mail and by telephone, with accusations that she had "a habit of inducing this sort of behavior from men.". 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.". Go to Top. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. 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. Discover our new online platform for community, courses, and content. "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. 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. 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. 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.

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