"I felt two-dimensional, like a piece of paper, a cunt-he didn't care about me. He laughed gently and said but then, it is my power you are using for me. Growing up in Calcutta in Bengal, https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/rama-swami-1925-1996, Himalayan International Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy of the U.S.A. Arya, however, says that much of Darling's information is inaccurate. The institute has branches in the United States, Europe, and India. To my relief, I could detect no flash of recognition, guilt, fear, or anger in Carolyn's eyes. 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. 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. 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. The message that all religions lead to the same end was certainly a politically and religiously powerful one, particularly because it answered in classical Indian terms the challenges of British missionaries and colonial authorities who had for almost a century criticized Hinduism on social, religious, and ethical grounds. 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. 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. At the same time as he dismissed her, Swami Rama also gave her a Sanskrit name. They rarely had to do the menial chores performed by other residents; Brian was encouraged to study the sacred texts and write a book, while Terry got training as a Montessori teacher and started a school for the Institute's children. At the time of death she went into deep samadhi and consciously dropped her body. 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. Rma is a Vedic Sanskrit word with two contextual meanings. Fourteen years passed and he was still in the body and I took a sigh of relief. . Lectures on Yoga. He claimed that he was raised somewhere in the monasteries and holy caves of the Himalayas by his personal guru or master Sri Madhavananda Bharati. After her death, the walls of that room in which she lived vibrated with the sound of her mantra. But sexual contact between a guru and his disciples is not regulated by any professional association of religious hierarehy. 12 Apr. [4] Concerned that the YMCA had presented yoga as one of its physical fitness programs, he included some philosophy and meditation in his classes. This is how Rama avatar died He then walked into the Sarayu River and took the form of Ananta Sesha. But their encounters were exactly the same as before, she says-emotionally impersonal and sexually mechanical. A week later, Megan blew the lid off Swami Rama's private life, confirming what Carolyn already knew in her heart. 60614. And she was afraid to leave in her old car because a freezing rainstorm had covered all the roads with ice. 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. The time of her parting seemed imminent. Swami Rama's and the Himalayan Institute's mission is to create a bridge between East and West, spirituality and science, and ancient wisdom and modern technology. The 3rd volume is now in preparation, soon to be published. "I will not tolerate anyone propagating malicious stories about the Institute or its founder on the Institute's own property," Dr. Ballcntine's letter says. "Until you get your priorities straight and your head clear, I would request that you refrain from attempting to represent the Institute or its teachings in any way.". Reprinted from Sacred Journey, an HIHT publication. He would call her to his office for a private authence, and as she hung anxiously on his words he would paint a flattering picture of her future with the Institute. Cite this article Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. Ramakrishna died around 9-9.30pm on the night of August 15, 1886. He told her he was writing a book of poetry for her, and he offered to find her a husband. "By their fruits you shall know them," he says, paraphrasing the Bible. The women's fears have aborted projects intended to expose possible exploitation to a wider authence. The yogi asked me to bring a living ant. She sounded unhappy, so I made plans to visit her at the Himalayan International Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy in Honesdale, Pennsylvania, where she had been a resident for more than four years. Megan went through a brief but painful and confusing time during which she doubted her own feelings and perceptions. Although she told an institute official about the assaults and the institute was aware of similar complaints by other women, the complaint said, the center did nothing to stop them. She walked around New York City for hours, until it was time for her bus to return to Honesdale. He says it is a relationship that goes beyond religions, the purest relationship possible, "the relationship of water flowing from a hill and filling a hollow at the bottom-the hollow has nothing to give in return, but only to accept that grace in gratitude. [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. He replied in disgust: Much earlier, I tried to organize a yajna (fire offerings ceremony) with mrityunjaya mantra for his health. Turning East in the Twin Cities: Converts and Movements in the 1970s. [3] This was one of the first convictions of a yoga guru for unlawful sexual activity with a devotee. On the occasion of his death anniversary, read a few things related to Swami Vivekananda . 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. 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. [2], In 1997, a woman won a lawsuit, first filed in 1994,[12] regarding multiple sexual assault by Swami Rama while she was attending the Himalayan Institute in 1993; she was awarded $1.9 million in damages. ", Why would the women want to blackmail Swami Rama? ." According to Marston's attorney, Philip W. Getts, his client never recovered the $50,000 in punitive damages Nuernberger owed her, because Pennsylvania is one of the few states that does not allow the court to garnish wages. 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. [7], Swami Rama has been accused and convicted of sexual abuse. 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. 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. She never received a response. '"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.". From the 1970s onwards, there were persistent allegations of sexual abuse of his followers;[2] in 1997 a woman won a lawsuit against him for multiple sexual assaults. When someone we love dies, it is sad. When the mantra is remembered consciously, it automatically is stored in the unconscious mind. 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. 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. But no one knows the date of when he left. And she would help him write books. When another married couple who were their friends and fellow students left the ashram suddenly, Karen wrote to them asking why. The BB viewers got a major shock after the former contestant died. Swami Rama Tirtha believed that his creative ability did not lie in his speeches which enthralled his listeners, but in the poems and articles he wrote in the solitude of the Himalayas. Association of Himalayan Yoga Meditation Societies International. He became famous for his ability to control his body in yoga nidra, writing many books including the autobiographical Living with Himalayan Masters. Chicago, II. Swami Rama consistently sought to establish a clear scientific basis for the practice of yoga and meditation. Swami Rama ( Svm Rma; 1925 - 13 November 1996) was an Indian yoga guru. He looked hale and hearty, standing as usual tall and erect. He cannot disbelieve his guru. She did not allow even her eldest son, Dr. A.N.Tandon, to remain in the room. In the meantime, though, Swami Rama returned to India, where he died of lung cancer on Nov. 13, 1996, before Jasmine Patel's case came to trial. 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. Even today his thoughts are used as a priceless mantra by his followers. YOGANANDA (18931952) was one of the earliest and most influential of the Hindu gurus to come to the West. "The real guru is within," Dr. Ballentine says, "that still small voice within you." It stresses the divinity of human nature and oneness of mankind. I said, Maharaj ji, then grant me the healing power and I will use it to heal you. Swami Rama frequently invited them to parties in his private quarters, where they say he entertained them with funny stories and racy gossip. She would live with him in the house he was buying. A Swami, or monk, is supposed to be "one who is master of oneself: senses, body, mind." Sri Rama didn't commit suicide, he maybe said to have taken the 'jala-samadhi' as a part of his Mahaprasthana leela, where on entering the Sarayu river he appeared in his original form of God Vishnu himself. [5] I said, But, then, Swamiji, you have healed so many in life. Dr. Ballentine sent copies of his letter to the same Institute members who had received Hughes's letter. Through her sympathy for what appeared to be his plight, and disarmed by his jokes, she says she allowed him to cajole her until she let her defenses down. He started saying, My Gurudeva is calling me. Sri Ramakrishna was, Steiner, Rudolf Everyone said you had to surrender to the guru, so she would simply have to follow through with whatever he ordered her to do. [R 4], Swami Rama's abilities in yoga nidra, a guided meditation whose name means "yogic sleep",[6] were measured experimentally at the Menninger Foundation in Topeka, Kansas in 1971. In May, Swami Rama visited the area again. I must go. We watched his body steadily in pain and looking emaciated, but still tall and erect with no sign of any sadness on him; always inspiring, guiding the final phases of the hospital construction. But a deeper anxiety also motivated my visit: I'd heard a rumor that several women, ex-members of the Institute, were taking Carolyn's guru to court on charges of sexual misconduct. 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