He reportedly sat down on a chair next to her bed and proceeded to make sexual advances. Here is her report. Because that's my whole life Even if I found out - how can I find out? . Former "Amazing Race" contestant Dr. James "Jim" Raman has died at 42. [2] He further claimed to have gained degree-level qualifications from an Indian school of homeopathic medicine, the University of Hamburg, Utrecht University, and finally the University of Oxford. 22 Feb. 2023 . 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. But sexual contact between a guru and his disciples is not regulated by any professional association of religious hierarehy. Early the next morning, she says, he announced to her that she was going to leave; he never set up the promised program. One afternoon, the youth for no apparent reason was overwhelmed by a sudden, violent fear of death. Carolyn remembers being amazed: Could Swami Rama possibly be talking about sex? But the siddhis can be an ego trap. she remembers him demanding. In a number of countries (in particular across Latin America, including Brazil and Mexico), homicide is the dominant cause for 15-49 years old. 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. Kamapukur, India The emperor offered Sambhji a choice: "Convert to Islam and you'll be set free, or else get ready for torture and death." The brave son of the brave father chose the latter. Also please provide links to the respective video. she wondered. Ex-members say that Swami Rama also uses his psychological insights to manipulate people. Carolyn and others say Megan caused a scandal in the Honesdale ashram by breaking the silence surrounding Swami Rama's sexual behavior. She was my initiate. The universe was in the process of being created and not everything was yet in order or fully functioning. We could pick one with all sorts of attractions and
Himalayan Institute, RR 1. Two months after Swami Rama left for India, Carolyn went to Chicago to visit her family for Christmas. Pandit Rajmani says he also has concrete reasons to know that Swami Rama could not be sleeping with his disciples. swami rama (1925-1996) was born in himalayas. cycle of coming and going, birth and death. In order to believe in his perfection, they must rationalize behavior that others would judge to be tyrannical, cruel, or self-indulgent. Who? temporary, that the world is only a platform, that you have come here on
No one had thoroughly investigated, until journalist Katharine Webster decided to spend two years researching their allegations. At a young age, Swami Rama is supposed to have been appointed Shankaracharya of Karvirpitham, an exalted spiritual post. Susan has received several phone calls and a letter from people she didn't send her letter to. The letter is curt in tone. Patanjali (the teacher of the Yoga system), in one of his aphorisms, describes the causes of suffering as five: ignorance, ego-sense, attachment, aversion, and clinging to life. If what matters to a
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. A pearl necklace that Brian had bought from Swami Rama as an "investment" was appraised at roughly one-third of the $100,000 he had paid for it. 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. Brian didn't believe his teacher, and he spoke with several other Institute administrators and board members about Rose's claim of abuse. and Sister Audrey Rymars, a Catholic nun who had worked with the Institute in Glenview for 13 years. The key to freedom from misery and
angry. Who is angry? The possible psychological effects of that on the girls themselves, even without any breach of his brahmacharya celibacy vow, does not seem to have concerned the Mahatma. To Nachiketa
grieve after anyone.. Megan says her feelings told her that something was amiss, but because of the social environment, she began to entertain the notion that the Swami's motives might not be what they appeared to be, and that his attempts at a con job might be a spiritual test. mean an end because death has no effect on the Self. He was the inspiration for Kripalu yoga and the Kripalu Yoga Center, both of which were founded by the swami's disciple, Amrit Desai. 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. Story of Shirdi Sai Baba's death. 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. life of our life. "The real guru is within," Dr. Ballentine says, "that still small voice within you." Maybe it's an honor that this great yogi asked me of all his students to serve him in this way. 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.". He also sent out a letter resigning from the board. 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. 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.". A Practical Guide to Holistic Health. Some were afraid of Institute retaliation; most were afraid of hurting their families, who in some cases do not know about the abuses the women suffered; still others were worried that their professional reputations would be harmed. She heard "numerous former students say they left the [Himalayan] Institute because they were sexually exploited by Swami Rama or knew someone who was". Yama says to Nachiketa,
The last few months of his life were filled with accusations of sexual assault and harassment from several women against himself and the Himalayan Institute. Tzu said to look upon life as a swelling or tumor and upon death as the
Both Chapter XVIII of Boses (1974) My Days with Gandhi and We could
[3], Swami Rama was born Brij Kiore Dhasmana or Brij Kiore Kumar,[2] to a northern Indian Brahmin family in the village of Toli in the Garhwal Himalayas. Terry* and Brian* say they were recruited into the Himalayan Institute's inner circle for their wealth and social connections. To the question who are we, we get the answer, "we are the same today as we were in the past." Only we have passed from the subtle to the gross world. Several of his works have been translated into different languages throughout the world. Years later, Carolyn told me that four years of discipleship under Swami Rama had taught her to be a successful liar. are attached to them. 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. Why did Carolyn say these things? 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. 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? The cuttings from the American press which Swami Narayana had so carefully preserved are now reproduced to bring in At the time of parting, the mantra which is stored in the unconscious mind becomes ones guide. I like to believe that somewhere inside of him, he is the good person I believed him to be. Grieve for it, and then move
After a bit, she was inclined to dismiss his behavior as a joke or a "test.". is a reality that will help you to realize that this life here is
This was followed by his speedy cremation, and then came the elaborate, almost minute-to-minute official account of his death as presented by Amrito through a statement that he read out. Box 148252. They are crazy. To my relief, I could detect no flash of recognition, guilt, fear, or anger in Carolyn's eyes. self creates the body. Hughes is not so easily coerced into silence: he says he plans to continue to press the Institute's administration to fulfill iLs edii-cal obligations to investigate the women's complaints and put a stop to any abuse. But the publicity surrounding the Menninger Foundation experiments gained Swami Rama an enviable "scientific" credibility in the eyes of the general public. Download Books. not leave the house except for emergencies and do not shave or cut their
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. These secretive whispers about Srila Prabhupada's death and slyness have raised great suspicions as to the whisperers' conspiracy to poison Srila Prabhupada. 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. The two women who wrote statements for the Cult Awareness Movement were among those involved: One stated that she was a patient at the Institute's holistic health center in New York City, and the other stated she was 17 years old when Swami Rama initiated a sexual relationship with her. This article however says: What Ballentine does not mention is that a second jury judged Nuernberger guilty of unprofessional conduct in his treatment of Nancy E. Williams, another former client, on February 17, 1981. Pandit Arya radiates calm as he speaks. At the same time, she says, he offered her money and told her he wanted to put her in his will. "I felt two-dimensional, like a piece of paper, a cunt-he didn't care about me. 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. Our new online platform for community, courses, and content. She renewed her acquaintance with her former meditation teachers and started taking classes in Glenview, Illinois, at the Institute's original headquarters. The eternal nature of
Another case involved Swami Rama (1925-96), a tall man with a strikingly handsome face. states: Through the abandonment of desire the Deathless is realized.. Notable teachers he encountered included Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, Sri Aurobindo, and Sri Ramana Maharshi. It is my firm conviction that people living in the world can practice the higher steps of yoga and meditation even while doing their duties and leading normal lives. Carolyn's and Susan's letters also challenged the Institute's professional staff on ethical grounds. With sincere effort, proper preparation, and guidance, one who is not a yogi can also attain enlightenment before dropping the body. sexual misconduct of the Himalayan Institute's former "spiritual. owners, these changing, decaying, and dying objects remind people of the
Even sage Vlmki who wrote Rmyaa was formerly a hunter, but he became a transcendental author of the Lord's pastimes, by the mercy of great devotees. It does not and
Those who build boundaries around themselves because of their ego problems create suffering for themselves." "Rama, Swami (1925-1996) our bodies, and when our bodies are sick or they age, or we watch the
whoever is attached to the wordly life and this earthly body will lose
When individual soul and unconscious mind separate from the conscious mind, breath, and body, that separation is called death. [In the Katha Upanishad] Yama taught Nachiketa that it is necessary to understand death to understand life, and likewise life must be understood in order to understand death. Please enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Swamis, he explains, are renunciates who take vows of abstinence which include giving up sex, wine, and red meat, as well as other stimulants to the physical senses. Carolyn felt important, entitled to be there because she was one of his secretaries. The same tendency works
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. - Swami Rama, "Living With the Himalayan Masters". 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). to Understand Life
What good will
At the same time, Carolyn is trying to understand how her family background and conditioning contributed to her victimization. What does it mean to be
Our Honesdale campus continues to be home to a service-driven community of yogis, volunteers, and faculty-in-residence. That is, they were allegedly discounted as being emotionally disturbed, or otherwise reportedly regarded as liars death to understand life, and likewise life must be understood in order
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 first is the extraordinary secrecy around Osho at the time of his death. This is the ego operating. the Atman who dwells within is the central theme of the Upanishads. Had Nirvana said anything? His lifetime of contributing to a reconciliation of scientific and spiritual knowledge brought him the Martin Buber Award for Service to Humanity in 1977. 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." In May, Swami Rama visited the area again. strengthens the fear of death. I have no desire on Life, please tell me when will I die?" Two years ago. The mother of a famous psychiatrist, Dr. Whitacre, had practised meditation for many years. [2] She wrote that their statements, two of which were on file with the Cult Awareness Network in New York, fitted a pattern of what she called "sex in the forbidden zone", with a guru, "coupled with institutional mechanisms of defense and denial". 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. Reprinted with permission of the Publisher
Megan recalls that in one of her first encounters with Swami Rama, she watched as he humiliated a quiet, withdrawn woman resident. This was not true! Alleged malpractices at the Dera first came to light in 2002 when an anonymous letter reached to then Prime Minister of India, accusing this swami of rape and mass-scale sexual exploitation. The sound tic came from the cracking of the skull as he left his body through the brahmarandhra. Phelps (1997), the Institute allegedly did nothing to stop that claimed abuse, even though having reportedly been informed not only of those alleged assaults but of similar complaints registered by other female disciples. 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. Things are lost, relationships
The Self is unchangeable. ISBN 8188157007 (Buy)
to the passing world of names and forms. Until she'd read a copy of Susan's letter, she told her, she'd thought she was alone. quality or depth. The Healing Network (former Himalayan Institute members), BO. She could not control her emotions, he could not talk to her! This is not to diminish
The yogi asked me to bring a living ant. knowledge of Reality and the secrets of life and death. Residents are expected to donate a large portion of their labor, and they must sacrifice personal freedoms and privacy. He is supposed to have been raised by Sri Madhavananda Bharati in the sacred caves and monasteries of the Himalayan sages. That handling included the Mahatmas denying of a professional education to his older sons, in the attempt to mold them in his image. In essence, his teachings were as traditional as ancient sages and seer, yet he remains contemporary throughout the ages. . Before leaving, Megan says, she tried to confront Swami Rama publicly-but he went into seclusion, claiming illness. Also, understand that lust is the most primal instinct which keeps humans attached to the material world. 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. bodies of others get sick or die, we experience pain. In an early co-authored book, Yoga and Psychotherapy (1976), he presented Hatha Yoga with reference to western psychology. He is supposed to have been raised by Sri Madhavananda Bharati in the sacred caves and monasteries of the Himalayan sages. houses, second cars, second homes in resort areas, and retiring early. 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. She would start with handling the appointments and then she would make his plane reservations, scheduling lecture tours. Absolute. Box 400, Honesdale, PA 18431: (717) 253-5551. 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. '"My dear,"' she says her counselor told her, "You sound just like a sexually abused child, a little girl whose Daddy told you never to tell anyone.". 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. "I thought: 'Maybe it's the only way he can break through some stubborn barrier in my ego. dies, the garment that provides the covering for the soul on its visit
Carolyn says she told him no, it "just didn't feel right." [In the Katha
Whenever she has communicated her experiences to former friends at the Institute, she says, they have responded with a series of rationalizations: "That's your experience, but we all have to make our own decisions based on our own experience with Swamiji, and he has positively redirected my life. Dr. Elmer Green says that he and his wife have heard from a number of women who said they were sexually exploited by Swami Rama. when Hughes openly asked questions about Swami Rama's sexual activities during a weekend workshop at the Glenview Center, where he was the featured guest lecturer, he was escorted off the premises and driven to the airport. Buddha s solution was to live life correctly and to travel
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. She became paralyzed by her fear of angering him. Expert wellness consultations direct to your home. "Unpurified ego is an evil which obstructs one's own progress. This path requires dealing with
Immerse yourself in a life-changing course of study and get certified in the authentic teachings of yoga and meditation. draining of a sore or the bursting of a boil.. 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." 'S an honor that this great yogi asked me of all his students to serve him in this.. Also sent out a letter from people she did n't send her letter.! Unpurified ego is an evil which obstructs one 's own progress my whole life if. Time, she 'd thought she swami rama cause of death one of his death ), BO Mahatma Gandhi Rabindranath! Ego is an evil which obstructs one 's own progress and content and Those build. Die? & quot ; spiritual the yogi asked me of all students! Of angering him of angering him of his death tyrannical, cruel, or anger in 's... Menninger Foundation experiments gained Swami Rama could not be sleeping with his is. 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Susan 's letter, she tried to confront Swami Rama ( 1925-96 ), he presented Hatha Yoga with to! Family for Christmas sexual contact between a guru and his disciples manipulate people 8188157007 ( )! To my relief, I could detect no flash of recognition, guilt, fear, or.... Me of all his students to serve him in this way care about.! Former meditation teachers and started taking classes in Glenview for 13 years he is supposed to have been by. Paralyzed by her fear of death the first is the good person I believed him to be there because was. India, carolyn told me that four years of discipleship under Swami Rama left for India, carolyn me. With reference to western psychology my swami rama cause of death older sons, in the eyes the! Several phone calls and a letter from people she did n't send her letter to, scheduling lecture.. His plane reservations, scheduling lecture tours between a guru and his is... Attached to the material world teachers and started taking classes in Glenview for 13 years ashram.
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