himalayan institute scandal

In his enlightened state, they believe, he could never commit any selfish acts, which would create new karmic burdens. 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." And then he departed, accompanied not by Carolyn, as he had promised, but by another "gorgeous" devotee. In some states, a patient has the right to sue her doctor or psychotherapist for malpractice even if she originally consented to sex, because people under psychological or medical treatment are considered too vulnerable and dependent to give free and full consent. That one gesture unleashed a storm of long-suppressed emotions. The victim's confusion and loss of trust are compounded when her community refuses to acknowledge her suffering. Had Nirvana said anything? Carolyn went away to college at the end of that year, as her parents expected. Initially, Brian says, most of the other directors responded with concern. Brian didn't believe his teacher, and he spoke with several other Institute administrators and board members about Rose's claim of abuse. Back; 2022 Clean Water and Public Health Fund; Make a Donation; Blog; Search for: Log in . Pandit Rajmani Tigunait is the resident spiritual director of the Honesdale ashram, as well as a member of the Institute's teaching staff. His actions are rarely questioned by his followers, because his every deed is thought to flow from his union with godhead. 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. She recalls that he said they would become very close, their bodies would come together, and then they would part. There she learned Swami Rama's style of "super-conscious" meditation, which she describes as a basic, impersonal training in mental concentration. 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. "If the guru's instruction leads to a deeper peace, freedom from conflict, a deepening of meditation, harmony in relationships - all of these. "By their fruits you shall know them," he says, paraphrasing the Bible. The Institute's program is no longer accredited by the University of Scranton. Megan went through a brief but painful and confusing time during which she doubted her own feelings and perceptions. 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. 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. Himalayan Institute Online. Williams, however, did not sue Nuernberger himself; she sued the clinic where he worked, alleging that the clinic "knew or should have known" that Nuernberger was engaging in harmful sexual activity while treating her. When Swami Rama returned from India two months later, Carolyn resumed working as his appointments secretary during the day, and, she says, as his sexual servant on some nights. They are crazy. He must see something special in me.'" Obedience to the guru's commands is implicitly expected of all long-term residents; former students describe him walking through the main dining room and ordering one person to move to the New York branch, another to change jobs. 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. A Swami, or monk, is supposed to be "one who is master of oneself: senses, body, mind." Carolyn says she experienced their sexual encounters as brief and rough, and that she performed her sexual duties mechanically: "I numbed myself in order to survive.". Under the guidance of his master, he traveled from monastery to monastery and studied with a variety of Himalayan saints and sages, including his grandmaster who was living in a remote region of Tibet. 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. Brian sued Swami Rama, and eventually the guru settled out of court for the full amount. 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. 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. No one had thoroughly investigated, until journalist Katharine Webster decided to spend two years researching their allegations. This was not true! A saint is a person who does what he says." He says that Swami Rama has been his guru since he was a child in India, and that he came to the U.S. at Swami Rama's request to head up the Honesdale ashram. One evening she went out to dinner with Martha*, an old friend from East West Books Chicago. Swami Rama frequently invited them to parties in his private quarters, where they say he entertained them with funny stories and racy gossip. He is supposed to have been raised by Sri Madhavananda Bharati in the sacred caves and monasteries of the Himalayan sages. Himalayan Institute Online. He must also vow that he will not harm any living being. 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. Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, PhD, is the spiritual head of the Himalayan Institute and the successor of Swami Rama of the Himalayas. Nor does Dr. Ballentine mention that in 1977 Nuernberger was formally reprimanded by the Minnesota Board of Psychology for unethical practices stemming from his relationship with a third woman patient. Those who build boundaries around themselves because of their ego problems create suffering for themselves." 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. No, he says: "Even if it happened, what's the big deal?& People say that Mahatma Gandhi& slept with women. One spring evening a couple of weeks later, she says, Swami Rama called her aside to ask why she'd been avoiding him, and she tried to tell him she'd discovered his lies. In the mid-1970s, she and her husband George,* both students of Swami Rama, traveled to India and stayed at the guru's ashram in Rishikesh. "We were Brahmins in the Institute's caste system," Terry recalls. 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. Still, she felt she had no right to question the guru's actions. Two women wrote statements, which said they had discovered that Swami Rama was attempting to "seduce" both of them contemporaneously. In the presence of others, we spoke only of positive or spiritual matters, in the deliberately modulated tones all the residents used. I like to believe that somewhere inside of him, he is the good person I believed him to be. Following on the wave of favorable publicity, Swami Rama founded the Himalayan Institute in Illinois in 1971. Rose told Brian and Terry that she was afraid to seek help from the family members who'd invited her to the Institute-they were unquestioningly loyal to Swami Rama-and she knew no one else there. Early the next morning, she says, he announced to her that she was going to leave; he never set up the promised program. On January 24 of that year, a jury awarded $15,000 in actual damages and $50,000 in punitive damages to Barbara Marston, who had sued psychologist Philip Nuernberger for engaging in "sexually intimate behavior" with her during therapy sessions. Ex-members say that Swami Rama also uses his psychological insights to manipulate people. They enjoy spending their free time adventuring, camping, exploring, and creating memories together. Carolyn was raised Catholic, and during high school she explored Transcendental Meditation, Zen Buddhism, Hinduism, and the "Jesus freak" movement. Had anyone spoken to her? After she had lived in Honesdale for a year, Swami Rama started promising to make her his appointments secretary. 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. Most of the Institute's programs are open to the general public. 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.". Community, Courses, and Content. Donate Help Our Cause US$20.00 A report has been made to law enforcement, and I'm guessing . Friends of the two couples set up a "truth booth" outside the entrance of the Institute's first annual congress in 1976. When he was finished, Rose told them, Swami Rama left her room, saying he's be back the next day. Given a mantra but little guidance, Carolyn dutifully performed her assigned practices, hoping that Swami Rama's "scientific" approach to yoga would eventually yield results. She believes Swami Rama was trying to buy her collusion, as he had bought the collusion of the Institute's staff and many residents. 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. 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. Hadn't he taken vows of celibacy? 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. But Swami Rama's disciples do not hold him to these standards. 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. Soon Carolyn noticed she wasn't the only woman being favored by the guru; he was also paying attention to Megan and Nirvana. I informed him that I had interviewed women who sought him out because they respected him and trusted him to be interested in the truth. Since its inception in 1971, the Himalayan Institute has been at the leading edge of personal and social transformation. "Nirvana is one," Carolyn says she told him. But Carolyn says she stifled her doubts about the guru, transforming them into doubts about her own selfishness: "Because I'd rationalized that he was teaching me a lesson, I believed he must be teaching other women the same lesson, and I shouldn't begrudge his attention to other students.". "I only needed one person to corroborate my experience," Megan says now. Himalayan Institute Buffalo Yoga | Meditation | Wellness Yoga classes and seminars for March - April are now open for registration. She says he arranged for her to meet him at the Gramercy Park Hotel and instructed her not to call him Swami in public. Mission Membership is an invitation to put your spiritual values into action by supporting our shared commitment to service while deepening your study and practice in the living Himalayan Tradition. 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." We are happy to bring you a combination of Zoom, In-person, and Hybrid options. 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. A rash of articles featuring Swami Rama appeared in national magazines, including Time, People, and Playboy. She thanked me, but assured me I had no reason for concern. For a time, she says, she considered getting a pistol to carry to work. A world leader in yoga, meditation, and holistic health, we are dedicated to serving humanity through educational, spiritual, and humanitarian programs. 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. In August, Carolyn says, Swami Rama told her to meet him in New York City for the next step in her spiritual training. That is, an on-going pattern of power abuse within the guru/student relationship. To my relief, I could detect no flash of recognition, guilt, fear, or anger in Carolyn's eyes. 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. 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). 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.". Yet she is vulnerable to feeling re-victimized every time her experience is denied or distorted. 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. She began to believe that this man who might have been spiritual at one time was now suffering from feelings he couldn't control. A spiritual center should pay close to $1.9 million to a woman who says she was sexually assaulted 30 times by the center's leader, a jury decided on Thursday. Carolyn says she spent years blaming herself and trying to rationalize away what she now regards as sexual abuse. 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.". 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. Study Retreat Wellness Travel Shop About HI ONLINE Program Calendar ALL NEW! 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. Community, Courses, and Content. She would live with him in the house he was buying. And there is a statement, 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.'" The Greens' experiments caused a furor in the scientific community because they gave powerful support to autogenic biofeedback research, which 10 years earlier had begun demonstrating that body functions which had formerly been considered involuntary could be controlled. Health Clinics Health Education Public Libraries School of Carpentry His response: "Listen, there are certain things which are based on witnesses-those are facts. The Himalayan Institute has been and continues to be home to a service-driven community of yogis, volunteers, and faculty-in-residence. If somehow Pandit Rajmani were forced to acknowledge that the women were telling the truth, would this shatter his faith in the guru? 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. Because that's my whole life& My relationship with [Swami Rama] is purely divine and spiritual-there cannot be impurity in it, and there is no room for such thoughts. But after two unsatisfying years, she left college and returned to the Chicago area. But after they started saying all these things, I never trusted them anymore. In order to believe in his perfection, they must rationalize behavior that others would judge to be tyrannical, cruel, or self-indulgent. 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. He says that Nuernberger's one mistake has "ruined his life, in essence, which is really too bad.". In the mythology of the ashram, the guru is the all-powerful, all-knowing father and the disciples are his spiritual children. * "Nirvana was up at his cabin, walking his dog at 5:30 in the morning, and Megan was with him day and night." Study Online A week later, Megan blew the lid off Swami Rama's private life, confirming what Carolyn already knew in her heart. D., about abuses that allegedly took place in Minneapolis, Chicago, New York City, and India, for a chapter in Darling's doctoral dissertation, "Turning East in the Twin Cities: Converts and Movements in the 1970s" (University of Minnesota, 1987). 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. Himalayan Institute Online Our new online platform for community, courses, and content. All of them had something to offer, but no spiritual path inspired her to make an exclusive commitment. In my interviews with current and former members of the Institute, I heard an almost unvarying litany of beliefs about Swami Rama's abilities. Healthy lifestyle products to support your yoga and spiritual practice. Our Honesdale campus continues to be home to a service-driven community of yogis, volunteers, and faculty-in-residence. Put that letter in the 'goofy file.'" 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 listened calmly as I admitted that I'd worried she might be a victim. And that did not undermine Mahatma Gandhi's work!& No, this would not be shattering, certainly not. Many disciples come from alcoholic and dysfunctional families where they have learned how to deny emotional abuse directed against them or their siblings, in order to believe that their parents really love them and are acting in their best interests. "Even if I found out-how can I find out? https://himalayaninstitute.start.page || Yoga. 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. When she questioned him, Megan says, he became angry and dismissed the women's suffering, saying that a little poison ivy could be good for them. ALL NEW! Expert wellness consultations direct to your home. 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. Following on the heels of Karen's and her friend's revelations, several other women and men left the Meditation Center in Minneapolis. 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