Swami Rama was the founder of the Himalayan Institute. Teaching since 1971, the Himalayan Institute offers a wide variety of wellness supplies. We combine extraordinary spaces, systematic yoga practice, and a conscious community to create experiences that leave you inspired and empowered to live your best life. Discover our new online platform for community, courses, and content. Become more involved with the projects of the ashram-seminars, residents, the patient program-in time she would be in charge of the whole thing. Some stay longer, for a few weeks or months in the Self-Transformation retreat program. Live online programs, on-demand courses, and hundreds of yoga and meditation classes. At the same time, she says, he offered her money and told her he wanted to put her in his will. Sex with a guru is a form of spiritual incest. 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. The Institute used to offer an accredited masters program in Eastern Studies and Comparative Psychology through an affiliation with the University of Scranton. Since its inception in 1971, the Himalayan Institute has been at the leading edge of personal and social transformation. She took a meditation class at the alternative high school program she attended, and one evening her teachers invited her to a lecture by their guru, Swami Rama, who was visiting the Chicago area. 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 jury awarded $275,000 in compensatory damages and $1.6 million in punitive damages to the woman. Allegations of sexual abuse by Swami Rama have followed on the heels of the Institute's success like a shadow. Rose spent the next six months moving from place to place, terrified that the Institute network would track her down. -- Swami Rama, "Living With the Himalayan Masters". The Catholic Church may discipline a priest who has sex with a parishioner, not only because it violates his vow of celibacy, but because his parishioners must be able to confide in him without worrying that he will exploit their trust for his own gratification. 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. Several former students of Swami Rama granted interviews to Patricia Ann Darling, Ph. 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 . She says Swami Rama began telling her that he had never had sex, that he was dreaming about her at night, and that he was experiencing novel physical sensations because of her. 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. Shortly after Marston filed her suit in 1978, Nuernberger moved to Honesdale, where he is currently a member of the Institute's teaching staff. Pandit Rajmani Tigunait is the resident spiritual director of the Honesdale ashram, as well as a member of the Institute's teaching staff. 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. The jury called the abuse "spiritual incest . She was dreamy! We partner with rural communities to provide health services, public libraries, and sustainable employment opportunities. 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 she said the assaults occurred. He told her to lie to the residential program director and say that she planned to visit a relative, and he gave her $100 to cover the cost of the trip. They know, usually without being told, that if they break the taboo of silence they will be blamed for destroying their spiritual families and the "higher" good those families purportedly do in the world. Then, later on, when the right man came along, she would marry and be very happy. Himalayan Institute Humanitarian is a 501(c)(3) public charity supporting the educational and charitable projects of the Himalayan Institute. But ultimately he chose to believe Swami Rama. See the article in its original context from. It is sad for him, and for those who cared and were so deeply hurt by him, that his behavior has been allowed to continue with such devastating results to people just looking for help." 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. At that, she says, he raged at her until she was sobbing, unable to speak a word in her own defense: No! 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. Following on the heels of Karen's and her friend's revelations, several other women and men left the Meditation Center in Minneapolis. Only recently has she acknowledged her anger at Swami Rama. She could not control her emotions, he could not talk to her! Carolyn says she feigned shock and tried to mask her distress as Martha told about a woman at the Glenview center who was confused and distraught about her alleged sexual relationship with Swami Rama. Had anyone spoken to her? Perfect. Once there, Carolyn devoted herself to her yoga practices and threw herself into her assigned jobs. Everyone said you had to surrender to the guru, so she would simply have to follow through with whatever he ordered her to do. They are crazy. When another married couple who were their friends and fellow students left the ashram suddenly, Karen wrote to them asking why. In the United States, far from the strong cultural morality of the guru's country of origin, it is not regulated at all. Lecturing and teaching worldwide for more than a quarter of a century, he is the author of fourteen books, including his autobiography Touched by Fire: The Ongoing Journey of a Spiritual Seeker, the best-selling At the Eleventh Hour: The Biography of Swami Rama of the Himalayas and a regular contributor to Yoga International. As the couple started making arrangements to move to England, they received another blow. The Himalayan Institute community reaches across the entire globe. "If the guru's instruction leads to a deeper peace, freedom from conflict, a deepening of meditation, harmony in relationships - all of these. Himalayan Institute locations 3.6 Honesdale, PA Show all locations What's being discussed at Himalayan Institute? Brian sued Swami Rama, and eventually the guru settled out of court for the full amount. But it is also common in the thought-control techniques of totalitarian states. Two other women left the Institute shortly afterwards. Well organized, fine atmosphere, and a strong community. She walked around New York City for hours, until it was time for her bus to return to Honesdale. 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. "I felt two-dimensional, like a piece of paper, a cunt-he didn't care about me. "A lot of people have confused the siddhis-the powers to control body, emotions, and mind-with spirituality. 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. Pandit Rajmani says he also has concrete reasons to know that Swami Rama could not be sleeping with his disciples. Karen, the woman whose claims were ridiculed at the meeting where Swami Rama and the other directors responded to Brian's charges, was one of the first ex-members to confront top Institute administrators. Treat yourself to a massage, meditate in the peaceful meditation shrine, or relax in one of the many attractive community spaces available on campus. After she had lived in Honesdale for a year, Swami Rama started promising to make her his appointments secretary. 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. The Himalayan Institute has been and continues to be home to a service-driven community of yogis, volunteers, and faculty-in-residence. 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? 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. Residents staff the Institute's administration, bookstores, and other small businesses, including Himalayan Publishers and Distributors and an elementary school. Meanwhile, the couple says, they discovered more evidence of illicit activity. Our humanitarian projects serve impoverished communities through rural empowerment and environmental regeneration. 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. Fortified by their mutual discovery, Karen says, the two couples undertook to inform their fellow students back home in Minneapolis. Megan went through a brief but painful and confusing time during which she doubted her own feelings and perceptions. Donate Help Our Cause US$20.00 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. Relationships are the first test of spirituality. Yet she is vulnerable to feeling re-victimized every time her experience is denied or distorted. Our community is held together by dedicated students of the Himalayan Tradition, who value the principles of universal respect and collective responsibility. They enjoy spending their free time adventuring, camping, exploring, and creating memories together. * "Nirvana was up at his cabin, walking his dog at 5:30 in the morning, and Megan was with him day and night." Our new online platform for community, courses, and content. Spiritual head of the Himalayan Institute, Pandit Tigunait is the successor of Swami Rama of the Himalayas. Carolyn felt important, entitled to be there because she was one of his secretaries. The program seemed to provide the ideal family she'd never had, where everyone shared her values and spiritual goals. 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. His devotees hovered near the ashram's entrance, hoping for final instructions or a blessing from the guru. 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. When he was finished, Rose told them, Swami Rama left her room, saying he's be back the next day. 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. Experts and some inside the system say that in justifying its decision, UC perpetuated outdated claims about online learning. One evening she went out to dinner with Martha*, an old friend from East West Books Chicago. Attempts to verify Swami Rama's educational background have been unsuccessful, according to Vanessa Webber of the Cult Awareness Network. Carolyn says she spent years blaming herself and trying to rationalize away what she now regards as sexual abuse. What a foolish woman! She never received a response. 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. She opted to forego pursuing a Ph.D. in clinical psychology because the Institute's program allowed her to earn a degree in a related field while studying Eastern philosophy and meditation with Pandit Rajmani, who had initiated her in Chicago. During my weekend visit, Carolyn and I took long walks on the Institute's wooded grounds while talking about her compulsive eating patterns and her disastrous relationships with men suggested as possible husbands by Swami Rama. Swami Rama has a reputation among his followers as an incredible psychologist who uses his insights to help others. Most rapists threaten women with physical violence. 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. Since the early 1970s, women have been claiming sexual abuse at the hands of this prominent spiritual teacher. "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. Pandit Arya radiates calm as he speaks. Live online programs, on-demand courses, and hundreds of yoga and meditation classes. Whether youre retracing the footsteps of sages through pilgrimage in the Himalayas, or immersing yourself in the most incredible spaces the US has to offer, you will experience the life-changing power of yoga in action. Sanctions on an institution can cause students to look elsewhere for higher education. She listened calmly as I admitted that I'd worried she might be a victim. Choose from 8 signature wellness retreats to help you restore balance and achieve optimum health and healing. But Swami Rama's disciples do not hold him to these standards. 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. He says that Nuernberger's one mistake has "ruined his life, in essence, which is really too bad.". That is, an on-going pattern of power abuse within the guru/student relationship. 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. "Even if I found out-how can I find out? There she learned Swami Rama's style of "super-conscious" meditation, which she describes as a basic, impersonal training in mental concentration. Similarly, gurus in the Buddhist and Hindu traditions are supposed to be examples of self-mastery and right living. 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. "I thought: 'Maybe it's the only way he can break through some stubborn barrier in my ego. Arya, however, says that much of Darling's information is inaccurate. HIT ranked under Top Commerce Colleges in All India by The Week 2022. How could she be the only one who realized what was going on? Within a sect the guru's authority is often absolute: he rules from the pinnacle of the institutional hierarchy. Himalayan Institute Online Our new online platform for community, courses, and content. But the Institute does not teach the mastery of such powers in its programs, instead focusing on yoga practices with more immediate practical application. She would start with handling the appointments and then she would make his plane reservations, scheduling lecture tours. 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. 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. Burnett is a postdoctoral fellow in Houston's department of education leadership and . His actions are rarely questioned by his followers, because his every deed is thought to flow from his union with godhead. But the purified ego is a means in discriminating real Self from not-self-real Self from mere self. 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. Sexual contract between gurus and their American disciples is not a new or rare phenomenon. Immerse yourself in a life-changing course of study and get certified in the authentic teachings of yoga and meditation. Relax, restore, and nourish yourself with a wellness retreat. 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. She believes Swami Rama was trying to buy her collusion, as he had bought the collusion of the Institute's staff and many residents. Who? Even so, it was a blow to find out that she wasn't particularly special: Swami Rama apparently had other "spiritual courtesans." But sexual contact between a guru and his disciples is not regulated by any professional association of religious hierarchy. 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. When he told her to visit him at night again, Carolyn says she did not have enough self-confidence to say no, but she hoped that this time he would treat her differently, with more sensitivity and respect. Like incest victims, women who say they have been sexually abused by their gurus are sworn to silence by their abusers. Himalayan Institute Online. She became paralyzed by her fear of angering him. 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. We combine extraordinary spaces, systematic yoga practice, and a conscious community to create experiences that leave you inspired and empowered to live your best life. Impact of Accreditation Sanctions on Enrollment. 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. Bikram Choudhury, one of several yoga gurus accused of sexual abuse, [1] assisting a yoga pupil in his own style. Two months after Swami Rama left for India, Carolyn went to Chicago to visit her family for Christmas. 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. Many of Swami Rama's followers are still young and nave, unskilled in comprehending and interpreting their own "inner experience"-and they entrust their spiritual yearnings to his care. Quick Links. She would live with him in the house he was buying. 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. Instead they deny the experience of the "unenlightened" women who are the guru's victims. Join us in serving a tradition that has served the world selflessly for untold ages. 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. Our new online platform for community, courses, and content. One of the greatest adepts, teachers, writers, and humanitarians of the 20th century, Swami Rama (19251996) is the founder of the Himalayan Institute. Today HI continues to innovate and offer the world high-impact, revolutionary programs and humanitarian initiatives around the globe. Most of the Institute's programs are open to the general public. This was not true! $1.9 Million Awarded In Swami Sexual Case, https://www.nytimes.com/1997/09/06/us/1.9-million-awarded-in-swami-sexual-case.html. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. The house he was finished, rose told them, Swami Rama of the Himalayan Institute locations Honesdale... Between gurus and their American disciples is not a new or rare phenomenon would track her.... Heels of the `` unenlightened '' women who say they have been claiming sexual abuse himalayan institute scandal care. And achieve optimum health and healing Institute online our new online platform for community courses... Abuse within the guru/student relationship -- Swami Rama not be sleeping with disciples. 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