Satyananda Yoga Reeling from Horrific Details of Sex Abuse, Rape Allegations and Accountability

Swami Satyananda Saraswati | image via satyanandayoga.com

We’ve seen some depressing things happen in yoga in recent years regarding abuse of power, abuse of students  – mentally, emotionally, physically and sexually – and even rape charges brought against some very prominent teachers including Kausthaub Desikachar and Bikram Choudhury. But this horrifying story out of Australia about a yoga movement led by Swami Satyananda Saraswati whose disciples systematically sexually abused multiple young girls while other members and followers knowingly stood by is somewhat beyond our capacity for belief. It’s astounding and despicable and unbelievably heinous.

The abuse occurred in the 1970s and 1980s but it’s just now coming to light under governmental scrutiny, and many, including the victims, want the Satyananda Yoga Ashram to be held accountable. Last week, Australia’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Sexual Abuse heard testimonies from nine women who were children during the height of the abuse, four of whom had testified in a 1989 case against Satyananda’s student Swami Akhandananda Saraswati who was allegedly the primary abuser at the ashram. Akhandananda was convicted at the end of the trial and sentenced to prison (he served 14 months and was released on a technicality). He died in 1997 from alcohol abuse.

The testimonies at the public hearings (held from December 2-10) describe Akhandananda as a monster who abused his power as a spiritual leader to prey on young girls living at the ashram, going so far as to have them groomed and primped for his acts of abuse, telling them it would aid in “spiritual growth” and threatening their lives if they told anyone.

Akhandananda’s cohort and assistant, a woman known as Shishy who was second in command and a guardian to the children at the time, also gave her testimony. Shishy has admitted, before the of the Royal Commission, to slapping the kids, which she says was considered to be an “honor.” Besides physical abuse, the alleged victims claim Shishy had also assisted in providing the young girls to Akhandananda, at the very least, knew about it and stood idly by.

Further details from Shishy’s testimony paint a horrific picture of an overall culture of abuse and sick behavior:

‘Violent discipline was an acceptable part of ashram discipline meted out by the gurus. It was represented as an “honour” to receive slaps from the teacher/guru,’ she said.

Shishy now 57, was at the ashram until 1985 and during that time had two abortions – one self-administered.

She had to drink Akhandananda’s urine as part of a traditional contraceptive method, she told the commission.

She also said Akhandananda sexually assaulted her with a double-barrelled shotgun and would punish her by digging out moles with a sharp pen knife.

Two of the moles were quite deep and he would not let her get medical treatment so ‘I stitched them myself with thin fishing wire’, she told the commission

One woman claims she was under the supervision of Shishy and Akhandananda as an early teen and fell victim to regular abuse at 16 years old.

Alecia Buchanan was 12 when her mother, then a drug and alcohol counselor at Gosford South Wales, became interested in yoga as a form of therapy and took an interest in the Satyananda Ashram in the late ‘70s. Buchanan testified last week that she was 13 when she became one of the children of Mangrove Mountain, living there under the supervision of Shishy and Akhandananda.

Buchanan, who also testified against Akhandananda in 1989, told the Royal Commission she was 16 when he began regularly abusing her (“he would order me into his quarters on a regular basis and direct me to pleasure him exactly how he wanted”) and would frequently ask her “if it felt good and whether I was devoted to him.”

She recalled that, often before or after he molested her, “he threatened me with his hand hovering near my face, mimicking a slap” and told her he would beat her if she told anyone, especially her mother.

The Royal Commission is investigating the response from Satyananda Yoga Ashram between 1974 and 2014 to the allegations of sexual abuse by Akhandananda. They are also reviewing:

• The operation of the Ashram between 1974 and 1989 in relation to matters of child sexual abuse.
• The systems, policies and procedures in place at the Ashram between 1974 and 1989, and currently, in relation to raising and responding to allegations of or concerns about child sexual abuse.

There have been terrible and questionable acts of abuse in the past, and as far as we know there hasn’t been any recent abuse within Satyananda these days, but that’s not what this is about. It’s about accountability, it’s about justice, and it’s about healing.

As APR, one of the women who testified said, those who stood by and let it happen need to be held accountable as well. “It was not just the times, or it’s not just the ‘70s. The adults need to own the choices they made,” said APR. “They were the ones who put the kids in that situation and they were the ones who stayed and by staying made it impossible for us to leave.”

As for the Bihar School of Yoga, its Indian-based headquarters sent a sharply critical email to the Australian Ashram slamming them for not taking responsibility for the sexual abuse allegations and potentially tainting the Satyananda name. The email went out in October before the case drew public attention.

“From our perspective, there is no accountability or concern for yoga in Australia,” the email read. “No one is prepared to take responsibility for the situation. After a lifetime of support for Australia, Swami Niranjan and the Bihar School of Yoga in disgust withdraw their support.”

Six of the nine victims have formally requested financial compensation – $1 million each – for the trauma they suffered and continue to experience. So far the only reparation they’ve been shown was an invitation to a fire ceremony at the ashram.

Mangrove Yoga Ashram, the home of the Satyananda Ashram in New South Wales, Australia is billed as the “largest yoga retreat centre in the southern hemisphere” which has been operating for close to 40 years. Swami Satyananda Saraswati, who passed away in 2009, is renowned for establishing the Bihar School of Yoga in 1964, touring the world and authoring over 80 books. He left his ashram in 1988 and never returned. Some of the testimony heard by the Royal Commission pointed to Satyananda himself as not only a participant but a god-like higher power that young girls would work their way up to depending on his sexual appetite and their level of devotion.

In so much, some members of the global yoga community are calling for a full on Satyananda boycott, including the methods, its books and its literature. Blogger and author Matthew Remski, in a recent blog post, lends his support to a boycott and touches on a pivotal breaking point we’ve reached in modern yoga – the need for transparency and the dangers of cult-like yoga faiths where power is too commonly abused.

Suffice to say: too many global brands of modern yoga are stained with scandal on a scale ranging from venal to obscene to abject. This does not mean that these organizations and their members haven’t been able to improve their transparency in the wake of failures, or that they don’t do good things in the world. But it does mean that all yoga schools — like all other institutes of higher learning — should at long last be disqualified as objects of faith.

This all may have happened decades ago, and the truth may be truly ugly, but as we move forward our hope is that this case coming to light may help us navigate our way through the modern yoga world with more consciousness, integrity and accountability. The very least we can do is speak up about it.

We’ll keep you posted on further details on the case as they develop. If you have any information pertaining to the case click here for the Royal Commission. You can also view the testimony transcripts at that link.

——-

Earlier…

• When Should We Stop Caring About Yoga Teachers’ Sexual Abuse?
• Breaking: Kausthub Desikachar ‘Sincerely Sorry’, Finds ‘Legal Closure’ in New Letter Addressing Sexual Abuse Allegations
• Bikram Studio Owners And Teachers Respond To Rape Charges And The Community Divided
• The Bikram Rape Charges: The Power of Speech and the Costs of Silence