Our Honesdale campus continues to be home to a service-driven community of yogis, volunteers, and faculty-in-residence. 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. The teachings contained in the sacred texts cannot play any meaningful part in judging who is a good guru and who is not: "How could they? Both women and men say they blamed themselves and their own spiritual obtuseness when they repeatedly failed to discern and follow the shifting rules. 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. 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. Everyone said you had to surrender to the guru, so she would simply have to follow through with whatever he ordered her to do. She was feeling so disgusted with her body and afraid of the guru's humiliating comments that one night she couldn't face going to his room, she says. The program seemed to provide the ideal family she'd never had, where everyone shared her values and spiritual goals. Ag Innovation Center Business Plan. One evening she went out to dinner with Martha*, an old friend from East West Books Chicago. Swami Rama called a meeting to defend himself. 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. Experts and some inside the system say that in justifying its decision, UC perpetuated outdated claims about online learning. 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. Most rapists threaten women with physical violence. "Anyone who lives a public life can go through such remarks;& you have heard about all that blackmailing" of famous, rich athletes, he explains to me in the spring of 1989 at the Honesdale ashram. Two women wrote statements, which said they had discovered that Swami Rama was attempting to "seduce" both of them contemporaneously. Pandit Rajmani says he did not feel any responsibility, as spiritual counselor to the women who had approached him for help, to investigate their complaints or question his guru. Today HI continues to innovate and offer the world high-impact, revolutionary programs and humanitarian initiatives around the globe. One day Swami Rama called for her and told her he wouldn't be taking her to India that autumn. 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. She says he instructed her in how to give him pleasure and admonished her to always tell him that she had received pleasure, even thought she never did. I mean, he's giving you the teachings and you're going to use the teachings to evaluate him? Ultimately, the woman had revealed the liaison to her husband. Friends of the two couples set up a "truth booth" outside the entrance of the Institute's first annual congress in 1976. He also has the integrity to admit that if they were true, it would be very terrible, and a violation of the teaching that says one should treat all women as daughters. After teaching, studying, and traveling throughout India and Europe, he came to the University of Minnesota in the 1960s, where he taught Sanskrit and Indian religions. 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. To my relief, I could detect no flash of recognition, guilt, fear, or anger in Carolyn's eyes. Unfortunately, there is some mystery surrounding its founder, Swami Rama, and possible connection with drug abuse and sexual indecency. 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. That was why he wanted her to be his secretary. But it is also common in the thought-control techniques of totalitarian states. ALL NEW! 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. 7,616 were here. She said no: She had been on a work crew Swami Rama had ordered to week poison ivy roots for his new garden, and she was covered with oozing blisters. 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 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. One of the greatest adepts, teachers, writers, and humanitarians of the 20th century, Swami Rama (19251996) is the founder of the Himalayan Institute. He told her he was writing a book of poetry for her, and he offered to find her a husband. 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. Study Retreat Wellness Travel Shop About HI ONLINE Program Calendar ALL NEW! The guru spoiled them, they say, calling them his spiritual son and daughter, and soon invited them to come live in Pennsylvania. 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. * "Nirvana was up at his cabin, walking his dog at 5:30 in the morning, and Megan was with him day and night." Minneapolis was the site of another Institute-related scandal in 1981. She became outraged at the residents and the professional staff who enable and legitimized the Swami's behavior. 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. The accumulated testimony of their personal experiences through the years exhibits a pattern typical of "sex in the forbidden zone," coupled with institutional mechanisms of defense and denial. 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. But as she spent more time around Swami Rama and his inner circle, Megan says, the guru subjected her to a barrage of sexual harassment. A system that encourages such vulnerable individuals to give up their own "egotistical" judgment to the arbitrary whims of one person is one of the key features of a totalist organization, or "cult.". The daughter of an alcoholic, she longed for guidance from a spiritual authority figure. I told her what I'd heard, and that I wasn't sure the rumor was true-as a beginning student of yoga and meditation at the Institute's East West Books in New York City, I was reluctant to believe it myself. Then he started giving her practices without any spiritual meaning, she says, and telling her she wasn't doing them right. When Carolyn had to work, I attended classes in Hatha yoga or read. Discover our new online platform for community, courses, and content. Brian also received a threat, he says: a note telling him he "might get hurt," which was accidentally shoved under the door of a lawyer who rented the office next door to his in a Honesdale office building. And she was afraid to leave in her old car because a freezing rainstorm had covered all the roads with ice. 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. Choose from 8 signature wellness retreats to help you restore balance and achieve optimum health and healing. 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." Instead they deny the experience of the "unenlightened" women who are the guru's victims. 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. During her first eight months at the Institute, Megan was able to pursue her studies, but her situation altered dramatically when Swami Rama returned to take up summer residence. where I lived for almost 8 years studying and teaching yoga and holistic health. 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.". Back; Cameroon; India; Mexico; Tibetan Settlements; Get Involved. 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." Now Megan says that in a different atmosphere, she would have immediately recognized Swami Rama's behavior as sexual harassment or "sadistic manipulation." As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. They resided in their own house in Honesdale, unencumbered by the strict rules of the residential program. https://himalayaninstitute.start.page || Yoga. At a young age, Swami Rama is supposed to have been appointed Shankaracharya of Karvirpitham, an exalted spiritual post. Then, later on, when the right man came along, she would marry and be very happy. 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. Still, she felt she had no right to question the guru's actions. She recalls that he would repeat a series of affirmations and commands in a hypnotic monotone: She had done very well organizing the book distribution operation, Carolyn says he would tell her. Our various programms address all aspects of a meditator's life because all of life has an effect on meditation. Himalayan Institute Online Our new online platform for community, courses, and content. 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. Swami Rama, she says, would extol his own sexual abilities but tell her she was bad at making love. She was dreamy! Most of the Institute's programs are open to the general public. Ex-members say he has counseled patients in the Combined Therapy Program, although he lost is license to practice psychology in Minnesota in 1979. Health Clinics Health Education Public Libraries School of Carpentry Carolyn felt important, entitled to be there because she was one of his secretaries. 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." As the other disciples looked on with envy, Swami Rama called her aside for a final, intimate word: She should work on herself, he reportedly told her-lose some weight and learn to admire herself. After dismissing the other workers, she says he repeated the familiar litany, but this time he slipped in a new message. The next day, she says, Swami Rama called her to his office and asked her if anyone had said anything to her. Things are moving quickly now in the sex scandal involving the three oldest sons of Steven Anderson of Tempe, Arizona's favorite SPLC hate group Faithful Word Baptist Church. Long-term residents must get administration approval for any overnight absences; permission may be denied if their destination is judged inappropriate. 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. She walked around New York City for hours, until it was time for her bus to return to Honesdale. 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. He said, "We must build a center of life which will be an important bridge between East . There he founded the Meditation Center. The 10-campus system closes a loophole that could have let undergraduates piece together a degree. The lawsuit I heard rumors about in New York City never materialized. Anyone can read what you share. This was not true! 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. 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. The institute has branches in the United States, Europe, and India. 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.". 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. Following on the wave of favorable publicity, Swami Rama founded the Himalayan Institute in Illinois in 1971. The scandal convinced Carolyn not to reveal her own secret, she says; she was learning that the Institute administration dealt with such accusations by smearing the women's reputations. The original creator of the neti pot, the Himalayan Institute has been offering traditional and modern products for health and spirituality since 1971. Himalayan Institute Online. Put that letter in the 'goofy file.'" ", Pandit Arya is not so reluctant as Dr. Ballentine to articulate is how one can recognize a worthy guru. The Himalayan Institute is a good a good model on how to do a resort perfect. A world leader in yoga, meditation, and holistic health, we are dedicated to serving humanity through educational, spiritual, and humanitarian programs. But sexual contact between a guru and his disciples is not regulated by any professional association of religious hierarchy. She thanked me, but assured me I had no reason for concern. ", Why would the women want to blackmail Swami Rama? Carolyn was raised Catholic, and during high school she explored Transcendental Meditation, Zen Buddhism, Hinduism, and the "Jesus freak" movement. Our community is held together by dedicated students of the Himalayan Tradition, who value the principles of universal respect and collective responsibility. No one had thoroughly investigated, until journalist Katharine Webster decided to spend two years researching their allegations. Yoga seminars, retreats, and professional certifications taught by our world-class faculty, designed to bring you the best of an authentic yoga tradition. Dr. Ballentine, who says he studied psychology at the Sorbonne and completed his training in psychiatry at Louisiana State University, defends Nuernberger. In August, Carolyn says, Swami Rama told her to meet him in New York City for the next step in her spiritual training. Several months later, the two couples met up again. You're bound to get mixed up. Together we ate superb vegetarian meals in the Institute's dining commons and chanted evening prayers. kono oto tomare main character; best supported football clubs in europe; rolling ridge conference center 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. 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. 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