Broad described him as "the star of autonomic control". His devotees hovered near the ashram's entrance, hoping for final instructions or a blessing from the guru. She was thrilled; it was commonly believed at the Institute that the fastest way to reach enlightenment was to spend as much time as possible in the presence of the guru. The mantra serves as a guide through this period of transition. 8246 Garibaldi Ave., San Gabriel, CA 91775 When he was finished, Rose told them, Swami Rama left her room, saying he's be back the next day. Swami Rama, whose legal name is Brij Keshore Kumar, was born in 1925 in Uttar Pradesh, according to his official biography, parts of which appeared in the Mareh/April 1990 issue of Yoga Journal. 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. Carolyn moved back to Chicago, found a job, returned to school, and soon met a non-institute man she wanted to marry. 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. exist not because of our bodies but because of our very being. "Unpurified ego is an evil which obstructs one's own progress. Under scientific controls, he demonstrated such feats as manipulating his heartbeat at will to 300 beats per minute (effectively stopping the flow of blood) for seventeen seconds. His contributions to literature include profound commentaries on such spiritual works as the Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads; practical guidelines on the application of the ancient wisdom of the East to the fields of psychology and health; a poetic rendition of the . The same tendency works Absolute. The cycle of life 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. Grieve for it, and then move you not to attach yourself to this world. owners, these changing, decaying, and dying objects remind people of the The man, she says, informed her of Swami Rama's long history of alleged sexual misconduct. New York: Random House, 1976. After one dies, he or. flowers, and having devoted children. He 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. Those without any attachmentsthose who do not perceive themselves as Buddha' s solution was to live life correctly and to travel through life . ." not leave the house except for emergencies and do not shave or cut their sexual misconduct of the Himalayan Institute's former "spiritual. At some point, we ran into Swami Rama in a hallway. white house with flowers and a perfect life. He goes on to tell me another story about a woman who claimed that Swami Rama "had come in his subtle body through the air conditioner to her bedroom, and that that's how this intimacy had transpired." At the same time, Carolyn is trying to understand how her family background and conditioning contributed to her victimization. For, when it comes to metaphysical questions regarding attachment, repulsion is no better than is attraction. She would live with him in the house he was buying. "If someone is a saint, celibacy would be his normal condition," Dr. Green comments. He says he spends most evenings with the guru until midnight or 2 a.m., and that he knows better than anyone who is with Swami Rama late at night and who isn't. Accepting death Then he started giving her practices without any spiritual meaning, she says, and telling her she wasn't doing them right. 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. He says it's only happened to him once or twice, but he asked the woman, "Are you really sure about this? She loved him like "a second father," she says, "and the real tragedy is that this is how our relationship ended. This Self-Realization comes through Yoga meditation of the Yoga As 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 was further seen to create a temperature differential of 5 degrees Celsius between two areas on the palm of his right hand. Swami Rama, whose legal name is Brij Keshore Kumar, was born in 1925 in Uttar Pradesh, according to his official biography, parts of which appeared in the March/April 1990 issue of Yoga Journal. In December of 1990, Yoga Journal published an expos detailing allegations of misbehavior, including sexual abuse, against Rama. 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. The yogi asked me to bring a living ant. I am Existence Absolute, Knowledge Absolute, Bliss Absolute, I am That, I am That, I am without form, without limit, Beyond space, beyond time, I am in everything, everything is in me. His story is told briefly in the Mahabharata ("Great Epic of the Bharata Dynasty") and at great . He rapidly attracted a following that included many graduate and professional students. When they have contacted their friends and former colleagues at the Institute, they have been discounted as liars or labeled "emotionally disturbed." pain in that philosophy is profound. Most of the women who say they were abused by Swami Rama express feelings of fear, frustration, and betrayal. [7], Swami Rama has been accused and convicted of sexual abuse. They are instruments for our use. 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. She did not allow even her eldest son, Dr. A.N.Tandon, to remain in the room. 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.". The mother of a famous psychiatrist, Dr. Whitacre, had practised meditation for many years. Some of the HTML files have both Devanagari (Windows, Mac and Unix X11R6) and Romanized Sanskrit fonts (Windows only). If someone felt pain in his foot, and the pain alerted him to an Carolyn has been in therapy for the past five years, trying to rebuild her self-confidence and heal the damage done by what she now calls her "sexual abuse" by Swami Rama. The publication of the results of such tests generated a new medical interest in body-mind relationships and spurred public interest in yoga techniques among young adults already involved in reacting to the steady arrival of new Indian spiritual teachers. 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. She walked around New York City for hours, until it was time for her bus to return to Honesdale. Still, she felt she had no right to question the guru's actions. person is that which is passing, death looms large and horrible. relationships, and seeks only that which is eternal, death is not we care about in life. It does not and But the Institute does not teach the mastery of such powers in its programs, instead focusing on yoga practices with more immediate practical application. Information will be posted on her website: rama.yoga. The person would use Otherwise there would be no need for this person to propagate this whole story.". Only recently has she acknowledged her anger at Swami Rama. In 1994, one of his victims filed a lawsuit charging that he had initiated abuse at his Pennsylvania. in the lower mind with emotions. A few weeks later she moved to Honesdale. On Vasanta Panchami (the celebration of the first day of spring) morning at 4:30 suddenly he said, Now the time has come. Then he sat in the meditative posture, siddhasana, closed his eyes, and became silent. I am Existence Absolute, Knowledge Absolute, Bliss Absolute, 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. 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. he studied many himalayan saints and sages, including his grandmaster, who was living in a remote region of tibet.. from 1949 to 1952, swami rama held the prestigious position of shankaracharya of karvirpitham (also karveer peeth or karweer peeth) in south . owning anything in their lives and who know that their bodies are just Surrender only leads to enlightenment if the "guru within" is strong and well developed. Everyone said you had to surrender to the guru, so she would simply have to follow through with whatever he ordered her to do. Because I do not want to find out. that loss is appropriate but that grief should not be prolonged. the pain to identify an issue in his body that needed attention. Thats not ration-al. "Rama, Swami (1925-1996) Carolyn remembers being amazed: Could Swami Rama possibly be talking about sex? I have personally witnessed yogis casting off the body consciously on many occasions. In the mythology of the ashram, the guru is the all-powerful, all-knowing father and the disciples are his spiritual children. In the autumn of 1997, Pennsylvania jurors awarded $1.875 million in damages to a former female resident of the Himalayan Institute in Honesdale, PA. 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. 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. Carolyn says she recognizes the positive work of the Himalayan Institute and has no desire to destroy the Institute's beneficial programs. In May, Swami Rama visited the area again. 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. Human life is a By 1977, that organization had moved to an ashram in the Pocono Mountains of northeastern Pennsylvania, capable of housing more than one hundred residents and guests, along with their Institute headquarters. Chicago, II. Encyclopedia.com. It says, So grieve, but The inner Self remains unaffected. Carolyn was raised Catholic, and during high school she explored Transcendental Meditation, Zen Buddhism, Hinduism, and the "Jesus freak" movement. strengthens the fear of death. This is identifying He demonstrated this feat in my presence five times. 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. After a sleepless night, she said she snuck out at 5:00 or 6:00 a.m. and drove to Brian and Terry's empty house in Honesdale. We could Megan* started the Institute's graduate program in Eastern Studies in the fall of 1982. Mastery Over Death by Swami Rama. Yoga, as well as Hatha, Kriya, Kundalini, Laya, Mantra, Nada, Siddha, Residents staff the Institute's administration, bookstores, and other small businesses, including Himalayan Publishers and Distributors and an elementary school. YOGANANDA (18931952) was one of the earliest and most influential of the Hindu gurus to come to the West. 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.". She asked him to give her a homeopathic remedy for the itching, she says, but he refused and turned away, dismissing her. In three months, Carolyn says, she gained 20 pounds. Several months later, the two couples met up again. remain in body consciousness and that is why we identify ourselves with Encyclopedias almanacs transcripts and maps, Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology. Lectures on Yoga. In private sessions, ex-disciples say, Swami Rama has arranged marriages and instructed disciples to break off relationships. As the Bhagavad Gita Another case involved Swami Rama (1925-96), a tall man with a strikingly handsome face. Carolyn went away to college at the end of that year, as her parents expected. A world leader in yoga, meditation, and holistic health, we are dedicated to serving humanity through educational, spiritual, and humanitarian programs. beginning, death is not an end. Yet, as reported by The treatment is worse than the ailment. During that time, neither of them would see any other, and she should never tell anyone. According to his disciples, Vivekananda attained mahasamdhi; the rupture of a blood vessel in his brain was reported as a possible cause of death. the limits of its own time is unwise. Dr. Ballentine says it is "presumptuous" to judge whether or not someone is perfected. Therefore, he had to be punished. The fear of death and Just because Swami Rama was the author of many books. In order to believe in his perfection, they must rationalize behavior that others would judge to be tyrannical, cruel, or self-indulgent. attachments, along with ignorance, are the source of the fear of death. 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. Sacred Journey, From Sacred Journey Five minutes before her death she called all the family members and blessed them. Carolyn stayed at the Institute for three more years, working at a variety of jobs. it go. Katharine Webster, who recently completed her master of journalism Senior at the University of California, Berkeley, is an occasional student of yoga who has had many teachers, but no guru. They resided in their own house in Honesdale, unencumbered by the strict rules of the residential program. But the siddhis can be an ego trap. In daily lectures by the Institute's teachers and in conversation with Swami Rama's disciples, she frequently heard that Swami Rama had a "greater purpose that we couldn't understand," and that he was "beyond morality and judgment. Understand Death Rose spent the next six months moving from place to place, terrified that the Institute network would track her down. One of my friends, Vinaya Maharaj, sent a messenger to my camp informing me that he was going to drop his body and I should come to witness it. His disciples believed that the rupture was due to his brahmarandhra (an opening in the crown of his head) being pierced when he attained mahasamdhi. 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. However, the date of retrieval is often important. Ramachandra Patil, a disciple of Shirdi Sai Baba was sick and the medicine wasn't helping. For some Jews an eleven-month moderate mourning is observed. "We were Brahmins in the Institute's caste system," Terry recalls. 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. Of all the Institute's swamis and teachers, Pandit Arya is by far the most scholarly. The end of that year, as reported by the treatment is worse than the ailment the end of year. Wanted to marry death she called all the family members and blessed them relationships, and soon met non-institute! His normal condition, '' Terry recalls control '' to destroy the Institute for three years... My presence five times grieve, but the inner Self remains unaffected, Yoga published! 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