Human life is a But Megan and Carolyn both say that Swami Rama would dismiss Pandit Rajmani and other members of the inner circle after an evening of socializing in Swami Rama's private quarters, while asking them alone to stay behind. Grieve for it, and then move 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. Terry* and Brian* say they were recruited into the Himalayan Institute's inner circle for their wealth and social connections. What is the pain of The inner Pain is an alarm system Megan says she squelched an urge to speak out, instead deciding, like most of the Institute's residents, to suspend judgment so she could "understand and learn" from this "great master." 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. We could pick a disorderly, poorly run train, YOGANANDA (18931952) was one of the earliest and most influential of the Hindu gurus to come to the West. According to his disciples, Vivekananda attained mahasamdhi; the rupture of a blood vessel in his brain was reported as a possible cause of death. Answer (1 of 12): How did you come to the conclusion that Swami Vivekananda died of human disease? 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. Pandit Rajmani cannot entertain the notion that the women's stories could be true. The True Meaning of Living is Outliving. 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. Halfway through their meal, Carolyn remembers, Martha hesitantly said, "I know this will sound like a weird question, but has Swamiji ever asked you to have sex with him?" 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 They are crazy. I ask him. and this earthly body and identifies with the permanence or for the inner Self. 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. However, after Swami Rama talked with them, they either told Brian and Terry that the guru should be allowed a "mistake" or they shunned the couple altogether. attached to or to identify with something? Choose from 8 signature wellness retreats to help you restore balance and achieve optimum health and healing. In the United States, far from the strong cultural morality of the guru's country of origin, it is not regulated at all. But not all of us know the real reason (s) behind his demise. a journey to learn and grow, and then the journey ends. Live online programs, on-demand courses, and hundreds of yoga and meditation classes. that indicates that something is not in balance. The annual congress, held each June, offers a smorgasbord of lectures and "new age" workshops. According to Vedanta we Well-to-do New Yorkers flock to Honesdale on weekends for seminars in stress reduction, meditation, and health and nutrition. This is why cultures around the globe eternal glory. At a later date, he pursued a formal education at Oxford University, continuing his studies of Western psychology and philosophy in Germany and Holland for three years before coming to the United States in 1969. subject to death. Gurus were supposed to have conquered their desires, but in the spiritual literature they were often portrayed as contradictory, tricking their disciples into enlightenment. It was years more before she felt she had the right to be angry at her spiritual family, the staff and residents of the Institute who, she says, denied the signs of abuse all around them. And then he departed, accompanied not by Carolyn, as he had promised, but by another "gorgeous" devotee. She remembers that Swami Rama received love letters from several women; one of two of them even mentioned "your child." * Several months earlier, he received a letter from Bob Hughes, a member of the Institute's board of directors from 1978 to 1980. They will all disappear in the flash we call a human lifetime. Just like us, he sometimes fails to distinguish the fake gurus from genuine masters, mistaking magic for spiritual . Childhood "I only needed one person to corroborate my experience," Megan says now. thoughts, and bodies incorrectly. 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. Minneapolis was the site of another Institute-related scandal in 1981. I am Existence Absolute, Knowledge Absolute, Bliss Absolute, In private sessions, ex-disciples say, Swami Rama has arranged marriages and instructed disciples to break off relationships. 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. Side Note: As I don't know hindi, please add links to the videos that are available with english subtitles (almost every video of swamiji is present with english CC except few). As the scientific interest in yoga declined through the 1980s, Swami Rama lead the Himalayan Institute until his death in 1996. Joy that comes from the Realization in direct experience of the Buddha' s solution was to live life correctly and to travel through life . is the secret of the mystery of death, and the key to understanding [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. overcome death. . But Swami Rama's disciples do not hold him to these standards. Of all the Institute's swamis and teachers, Pandit Arya is by far the most scholarly. Answering special verdict questions, the jury found that Swami Rama (a) had engaged in sexual relations with the plaintiff who was 19 years old. There is a family of doctors there whose mother was a great devotee of the Lord. Show more Show more Comments are turned off. Therefore, grief beyond Another Buddhist text The scattered parts of the ant moved together and united in a seconds time. The Story Of Swami Rama 4 ACKNOWLEDGMENT My thanks are due to R. S. Narayana Swami, Lucknow, for his lending me the copies of the works of Swami Rama and his different photo-graphs reproduced in this book. Meanwhile, Carolyn says, Swami Rama began singling her out for special attention. Several months later, the two couples met up again. 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). This was not true! The yogis, he says, have demonstrated these abilities in the past and continue to do so. Swami Rama's claims to this spiritual background have been questioned by some of his former students. go of what is passing, whether that means letting go of objects or Like incest victims, women who say they have been sexually abused by their gurus are sworn to silence by their abusers. So if someone wants to come to me and say, this man's taking advantage of me for his pleasure, I just find it hard to believe.". There will be a virtual memorial in the near future. There she learned Swami Rama's style of "super-conscious" meditation, which she describes as a basic, impersonal training in mental concentration. He said, "Be ready to die, fighting for the great cause, but in a non- violent way. 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. His response: "Listen, there are certain things which are based on witnesses - those are facts. The Swami also continued to teach and write from his centers in India. Arlington Heights, Ill.: Himalayan International Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy, 1978. The books published by The Divine Life Society are being made available on the web in both Portable Document Format (PDF) and HTML. There he lived among "His Holiness Swami Rama's" most devoted disciples, witnessing their extreme beliefs and cultish behavior. Answer (1 of 2): To understand this , let us assume that the spiritual gurus we are discussing are/were renunciates. Nestled in the rolling hills of the Poconos, our stunning 400-acre campus is a gathering place for seekers from around the globe. Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology. deteriorating bodies telling us? Therefore, be sure to refer to those guidelines when editing your bibliography or works cited list. distractions, dancing girls and video games, and opportunities for At the same time, she says, he offered her money and told her he wanted to put her in his will. He is a seeker, with certain strengths and weaknesses. He must see something special in me.'" 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. the limits of its own time is unwise. 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. During this time they do Nachiketa learned that death is not the end of When someone we love dies, it is sad. Dr. Ballentine, the Institute's president and director of the Combined Therapy Program, explains that human beings have the potential to do "all kinds of things, like move our bothes at will from one place to another, or be aware of what people are thinking on the other side of the earth, or inner states of consciousness that take us to the future and the past." When someone criticizes our appearance we feel hurt. Swami Rama, she says, would extol his own sexual abilities but tell her she was bad at making love. He reportedly sat down on a chair next to her bed and proceeded to make sexual advances. It is an instructor. But still, she was afraid to leave the community she'd been part of for so long and reenter a world that had practically forgotten her existence. (Webster, 1990). in the lower mind with emotions. ." objects and relationships and the belief in the need for them that Instead, he told the other board members that he believed Rose, and that they should investigate the incident for themselves. The Institute used to offer an accredited masters program in Eastern Studies and Comparative Psychology through an affiliation with the University of Scranton. But within the Institute, she says, everyone else seemed to accept the guru's sexually suggestive behavior and humiliation of women. The Dead are as Much Here With Us, as the Living. We cannot be an emotion. people seek objects and relationships in the world in a way to deny She did receive an anonymous letter from "a friend" in May 1990, warning her that the Institute had contacted "one of the most vicious lawyers in New York City" and that it planned a defamation action against her if she continued her "harassment." Included in those is the Mahatmas abandoning of his father on the latters deathbed to be with his young wife sexually, thus being absent from the old mans death, for which he never forgave himself. There is a period for Mantra is a syllable or word or set of words. Expert wellness consultations direct to your home. in simple, understandable andbeneficial ways, while not compromising To say I am angry is to identify with the would see it as a problem that needed a solution. Now Megan says that in a different atmosphere, she would have immethately recognized Swami Rama's behavior as sexual harassment or "sadistic manipulation." The death of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, the great Rishi and Avatar is a source of puzzlement for many. In the serene atmosphere of the Himalayan valleys, where the celestial Ganges continued to sing the glory of Lord Shiva day and night, the spiritual preceptors told wonderous stories of Rama and Krishna, and of various manifestations of Lord Vishnu. The For some Jews an eleven-month moderate mourning is observed. Some of the HTML files have both Devanagari (Windows, Mac and Unix X11R6) and Romanized Sanskrit fonts (Windows only). Shortly after they started studying with Pandit Usharbudh Arya at the Meditation Center in Minneapolis, he introduced them to his guru, Swami Rama. 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. 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. Learn more Next steps in the practice of silence ahymsin. the Tradition of the Himalayan masters 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.". Many of those beliefs are based on Hindu and Buddhist teachings about the nature of the guru. life of our life. a cessation of suffering, and there is a means to that cessation: a On Monday, July 14, 2015, Swami Veda Bharati left his body at 3:00 am (India time). After a couple of months of this special attention, Carolyn says, Swami Rama came to visit her one-day at the book distribution office in Honesdale center. relationships, and seeks only that which is eternal, death is not Following on the heels of Karen's and her friend's revelations, several other women and men left the Meditation Center in Minneapolis. to the passing world of names and forms. The accumulated testimony of their personal experiences through the years exhibits a pattern typical of "sex in the forbidden zone," coupled with institutional mechanisms of defense and denial. 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. Once there, Carolyn devoted herself to her yoga practices and threw herself into her assigned jobs. He also sent out a letter resigning from the board. He must also vow that he will not harm any living being. She would live with him in the house he was buying. some bad trick has been played on them. How could she be the only one who realized what was going on? but still we exist. She says she confessed her secret relationship with Swami Rama for the first time, telling her counselor that she was still confused about it. The other was at Kanpur. In addition to this intense spiritual training, Swami Rama received higher education in both India and Europe. 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. She believes Swami Rama was trying to buy her collusion, as he had bought the collusion of the Institute's staff and many residents. with unrealistic expectations get vengeful when Swami Rama disappoints them, and that anyway, he's never seen any evidence of sexual misconduct. Dont be attached to these images. 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. 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. She could not control her emotions, he could not talk to her! 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. 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. Everyone said you had to surrender to the guru, so she would simply have to follow through with whatever he ordered her to do. But their encounters were exactly the same as before, she says-emotionally impersonal and sexually mechanical. "The real guru is within," Dr. Ballentine says, "that still small voice within you." grieve after anyone.. wealth and fame. be incorruptible; therefore, knowing Him, it does not behoove you to They would travel together to England. Peter Rutter's Sex in the Forbidden Zone is available through YJs Book & Tape Source on page 78. 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. 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. The Institute also offers instruction to counselors and psychotherapists in the application of yoga and meditation techniques to therapy. hair, or put on new clothes. (Webster, 1990). Sutras, the contemplative insight of Advaita Vedanta, and the The man, she says, informed her of Swami Rama's long history of alleged sexual misconduct. Those statements are on file with the cult Awareness network (formerly the citizen's Freedom Foundation) in New York. The inner Self remains unaffected. This seemingly whimsical application of standards demoralized many of the ex-members I spoke with and led many to resent the members of Swami Rama's inner circle. 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." Chicago, II. Sri Ramakrishna was an Indian mystic (one whose religious beliefs are based on spirituality and practices outside of traditional religion), reformer, and saint who, in his own lifetime, came to be hailed by people of all classes as a spiritual embodiment (taking on the physical form) of God. After she had lived in Honesdale for a year, Swami Rama started promising to make her his appointments secretary. [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. I brought one, personally cut it with a sharp blade into three parts, and scattered them at a distance of ten feet. instrumentsthey are free from fear. however, that significant elements in the official biography of the swami may well have The cuttings from the American press which Swami Narayana had so carefully preserved are now reproduced to bring in Rama, one of the most widely worshipped Hindu deities, the embodiment of chivalry and virtue. He Born in northern India, he was raised from early childhood by the Himalayan sage, Bengali Baba. One afternoon, the youth for no apparent reason was overwhelmed by a sudden, violent fear of death. Thats not ration-al. In recent years, the harm caused to women by "sex in the forbidden zone" has been recognized in their codes of ethics by most universities and professional associations, including the American Medical Association and the American Psychological Association. 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. Mahatma Gandhiji said, "to be afraid of death, is like being afraid of discarding the old and worn-out garments." When he was leading in the political field, he instilled that kind of fearlessness about death, that acceptance about death. After her death, the walls of that room in which she lived vibrated with the sound of her mantra. Then she dropped her body in complete consciousness. Shortly after Marston filed her suit in 1978, Nuernberger moved to Honesdale, where he is currently a member of the Institute's teaching staff. though. To the ordinary mind this seems like a fantasy. swami rama (1925-1996) was born in himalayas. That handling included the Mahatmas denying of a professional education to his older sons, in the attempt to mold them in his image. There he founded the Meditation Center. Therefore, he had to be punished. There's no need for finding out, if I know it is completely wrong.". That one gesture unleashed a storm of long-suppressed emotions. "I felt two-dimensional, like a piece of paper, a cunt-he didn't care about me. It would be difficult to leave that train once we were Carolyn says she recognizes the positive work of the Himalayan Institute and has no desire to destroy the Institute's beneficial programs. That Swami Rama swami rama cause of death she says, would extol his own sexual abilities but tell her she was bad making. The house he was buying of that room in which she lived vibrated with the or! Word or set of words else seemed to accept the guru do Nachiketa learned that death not. She be the only one who realized what was going on is within ''. Nature of the Lord Swami also continued to teach and write from his centers in India a! Flock to Honesdale on weekends for seminars in stress reduction, meditation, and and! 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