American-Statesman - Texas March 4, 2011
Hindu guru found guilty on 20 counts of molesting young girls
By Eric Dexheimer | AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
A Hays County jury on Friday found the spiritual guru of Barsana Dham guilty of molesting two young girls who grew up at the Hindu ashram south of Austin in the mid-1990s.
Prakashanand Saraswati, known to his devotees as Shree Swamiji, was convicted of all 20 counts of indecency with a child by sexual contact.
The charges were based on allegations of two women, Shyama Rose and Vesla Tonnessen Kazimer, now 30 and 27 years old, respectively, whose families lived at the 200-acre ashram off RM 1826 in Driftwood. They said the guru kissed and fondled them on numerous occasions over the course of several years, beginning when they were as young as 12.
A third woman, Kate Tonnessen, now 31, also claimed the holy man had kissed and groped her during the same period. Although her account was heard during the two-week trial, the accusations were not part of the official charges because the statute of limitations had expired.
In accordance with Statesman policy on victims of sex crimes, their names have not previously appeared in the newspaper's accounts of the case. On Friday, they gave permission for their names to be used.
The jury of eight men and four women returned its guilty verdict after deliberating for less than two hours. The announcement by District Court Judge Charles Ramsay was met with muffled sobs by the women, who exchanged hugs. Beyond saying they were pleased with the verdict, they declined to comment.
Prakashanand, who'd sat through the trial in a special chair to ease pressure on his bad back, showed no emotion. His supporters had packed the small Hays County courthouse during the trial.
"We're disappointed in the jury's verdict and steadfast in Swamiji's innocence," said Aman Agrawal, a Barsana Dham spokesman.
Jurors will reconvene on Monday to decide on a sentence. Each of the 20 charges carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
In an indictment filed in April 2008, the women claimed they'd been abused while they grew up as friends on the ashram, their families longtime devotees of Prakashanand and Hinduism.
Several members of the Tonnessen family still live there, and the trial highlighted how, against the backdrop of religion and sex, the case centered on one broken family. Kate and Vesla's brother and sister are preachers at Barsana Dham; their parents reside on the property.
The two sides have not had any contact since Prakashanand was charged. "Besides my sister, I'm an orphan now," Kate Tonnessen testified, weeping. "I lost my history."
Over the course of the trial, prosecutors depicted Prakashanand, now 82, as a religious leader who used his stature and position of trust to prey on young devotees.
When he began fondling her when she was 12, Rose said: "It just felt so wrong. He was my first kiss by a man ever. The first time anyone touched my breasts, it was Prakashanand."
In the few instances in which they told an adult of the incidents, the women said, they were instructed that the touching had a higher purpose. "I was told it was a test and if I failed it I would go to hell," Rose said. The other women said they were told the guru was gracing them.
Defense attorneys stressed that Prakashanand was a holy man who had devoted his life to teaching devotees and performing works of charity. The women accusing him, his lawyers said, were manipulative and angry, colluding to deliberately damage a religious organization from which they'd been ostracized.
The lawyers elicited testimony from more than a half-dozen current or former Barsana Dham residents or regular visitors who insisted they had never seen the guru alone with a young girl.
Several also disputed the girls' recollections of furniture placement and other details, such as the existence of a diary, and described the women's reputations growing up as dishonest.
Prosecutors said the witnesses were protecting their guru. "You know the fox in the henhouse?" Assistant District Attorney Cathy Compton said. "You just got to hear from some of the hens."
During the trial, each side stressed that the case was not about the brand of religion practiced at the ashram. But as a result of that insistence, Barsana Dham's Hinduism, with its occasionally unfamiliar rituals, necessarily became part of the proceedings.
"From the very first witness, they started bringing up religion," said Jeff Kearney, Prakashanand's Fort Worth-based lead attorney. "They told you this is a cultlike place."
"Who did you ever hear use the word 'cult'?" responded Compton. "He's trying to make it seem as though we are attacking the religion. That's like saying we're attacking the car of somebody who ran someone over."
Tonnessen, Kazimer and Rose said they came forward after so many years because they were motivated by a fear that the guru was continuing to abuse young girls at the ashram.
"By not speaking out, it allowed possibly more children to be abused," Tonnessen testified.
The dramatically differing testimony left jurors with the task of establishing whether the women were lying to hurt the guru or whether his devotees were lying to protect him. Each side struggled with proving or disproving a case based on incidents alleged to have occurred 15 years earlier.
But in the end, Compton said: "This case is real simple. Either you believe these girls or you don't."
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American-Statesman - Texas February 24, 2011
Guru's accuser details alleged abuse
Woman said groping at Driftwood ashram started when she was 12, continued until she left for college at 18
By Eric Dexheimer | AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
SAN MARCOS — Instructed almost from birth to view Prakashanand Saraswati as a god, she was stunned and confused when the Hindu spiritual leader first fondled her breasts when she was 12 years old, a woman testified Thursday in a Hays County courtroom.
"Even though I was 100 percent devoted at the time, it just felt so wrong," she said. Then, using a hand-drawn poster-size diagram of the Driftwood ashram's buildings, she pointed out the locations where the alleged abuse continued, ending only when she turned 18 and left for college.
The woman, now 30 years old, is one of two women who have accused the guru, known to his followers as Shree Swamiji, of groping them numerous times in the mid-1990s when they were children living on the Barsana Dham ashram.
Prakashanand is charged with 20 separate counts of indecency with a child by sexual contact; each charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
Defense attorneys have not yet had an opportunity to question the woman on her story.
"Today's testimony was simply a snapshot in this process," said Jeff Kearney, Prakashanand's lead attorney. "We're confident once the jury hears all of the evidence, they will know the accusers are not credible and their testimony is not to be believed."
Petite and pale with dark hair, the woman took the witness stand Thursday afternoon. It marked the first time she has publicly told her story of growing up as a devotee to Prakashanand.
While her testimony described the spiritual leader fondling and kissing her, it also provided an uncommon glimpse into the inner workings of the 200-acre spiritual center visible from RM 1826 south and west of Austin.
"I was born into this society," the woman said, noting that she was an infant when her mother joined Prakashanand's organization. "As far back as I can recall, he was a part of my life." She added that Prakashanand even named her, changing her birth name when she was still very young.
She described growing up on the ashram as a happy but isolated experience, with little contact with nondevotees outside of attending classes in Dripping Springs public schools.
"I was not allowed to mix with other students," several of whom would refer to ashram children as "devil worshippers," the woman recalled. "No one slept over; I never slept over at anyone's house, either."
Life at Barsana Dham revolved completely around its spiritual leader, she said: "Daily life was serving Prakashanand, doing whatever he bidded. He's the driving force, the controller of everyone."
It was for that reason that her mother permitted the abuse to continue even after she learned about it, the woman said: "She did nothing. I fell back on the principles of the religion — to serve and to do what I could to make him happy. So that's what I did."
Answering questions quickly and matter-of-factly, the woman glanced occasionally in the direction of the 82-year-old guru, who showed no emotion as he sat in a reclining chair designed to cushion his bad back. She detailed nearly a dozen instances in different locations on the ashram when she said Prakashanand arranged to be alone with her and kissed her and fondled her breasts.
"It happened more than this," she said. "Way more."
She said she waited a decade to report the alleged crimes because she'd been told that to do so would call into question her devotion to her religion.
"I was told it was a test, and if I failed it, I would go to hell," she said. "It meant that I had to submit myself to that and not object and not even think anything to the contrary."
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what did the second abused girl say?
ReplyDelete1) why was swami allowed to roam around when charged with such crimes?
ReplyDelete2)why was he not allowed to live in his Ashram since 2008?
3)what is the responsibilities of the parents?
4)have the other Ashramites been mentally evaluated post conviction and are the other inmates capable of being similar threat to children?
Yoga and Sex Scandals: No Surprise Here
ReplyDeleteBy WILLIAM J. BROAD New York Times February 27, 2012
The wholesome image of yoga took a hit in the past few weeks as a rising star of the discipline came tumbling back to earth. After accusations of sexual impropriety with female students, John Friend, the founder of Anusara, one of the world’s fastest-growing styles, told followers that he was stepping down for an indefinite period of “self-reflection, therapy and personal retreat.”
Mr. Friend preached a gospel of gentle poses mixed with openness aimed at fostering love and happiness. But Elena Brower, a former confidante, has said that insiders knew of his “penchant for women” and his love of “partying and fun.”
Few had any idea about his sexual indiscretions, she added. The apparent hypocrisy has upset many followers.
“Those folks are devastated,” Ms. Brower wrote in The Huffington Post. “They’re understandably disappointed to hear that he cheated on his girlfriends repeatedly” and “lied to so many.”
But this is hardly the first time that yoga’s enlightened facade has been cracked by sexual scandal. Why does yoga produce so many philanderers? And why do the resulting uproars leave so many people shocked and distraught?
One factor is ignorance. Yoga teachers and how-to books seldom mention that the discipline began as a sex cult — an omission that leaves many practitioners open to libidinal surprise.
Hatha yoga — the parent of the styles now practiced around the globe — began as a branch of Tantra. In medieval India, Tantra devotees sought to fuse the male and female aspects of the cosmos into a blissful state of consciousness.
The rites of Tantric cults, while often steeped in symbolism, could also include group and individual sex. One text advised devotees to revere the female sex organ and enjoy vigorous intercourse. Candidates for worship included actresses and prostitutes, as well as the sisters of practitioners.
Hatha originated as a way to speed the Tantric agenda. It used poses, deep breathing and stimulating acts — including intercourse — to hasten rapturous bliss. In time, Tantra and Hatha developed bad reputations. The main charge was that practitioners indulged in sexual debauchery under the pretext of spirituality.
Early in the 20th century, the founders of modern yoga worked hard to remove the Tantric stain. They devised a sanitized discipline that played down the old eroticism for a new emphasis on health and fitness.
B. K. S. Iyengar, the author of “Light on Yoga,” published in 1965, exemplified the change. His book made no mention of Hatha’s Tantric roots and praised the discipline as a panacea that could cure nearly 100 ailments and diseases. And so modern practitioners have embraced a whitewashed simulacrum of Hatha.
But over the decades, many have discovered from personal experience that the practice can fan the sexual flames. Pelvic regions can feel more sensitive and orgasms more intense.
Science has begun to clarify the inner mechanisms. In Russia and India, scientists have measured sharp rises in testosterone — a main hormone of sexual arousal in both men and women. Czech scientists working with electroencephalographs have shown how poses can result in bursts of brainwaves indistinguishable from those of lovers. More recently, scientists at the University of British Columbia have documented how fast breathing — done in many yoga classes — can increase blood flow through the genitals. The effect was found to be strong enough to promote sexual arousal not only in healthy individuals but among those with diminished libidos.
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ReplyDeleteIn India, recent clinical studies have shown that men and women who take up yoga report wide improvements in their sex lives, including enhanced feelings of pleasure and satisfaction as well as emotional closeness with partners.
At Rutgers University, scientists are investigating how yoga and related practices can foster autoerotic bliss. It turns out that some individuals can think themselves into states of sexual ecstasy — a phenomenon known clinically as spontaneous orgasm and popularly as “thinking off.”
The Rutgers scientists use brain scanners to measure the levels of excitement in women and compare their responses with readings from manual stimulation of the genitals. The results demonstrate that both practices light up the brain in characteristic ways and produce significant rises in blood pressure, heart rate and tolerance for pain — what turns out to be a signature of orgasm.
Since the baby boomers discovered yoga, the arousal, sweating, heavy breathing and states of undress that characterize yoga classes have led to predictable results. In 1995, sex between students and teachers became so prevalent that the California Yoga Teachers Association deplored it as immoral and called for high standards.
“We wrote the code,” Judith Lasater, the group’s president, told a reporter, “because there were so many violations going on.”
If yoga can arouse everyday practitioners, it apparently has similar, if not greater, effects on gurus — often charming extroverts in excellent physical condition, some enthusiastic for veneration.
The misanthropes among them offer a bittersweet tribute to yoga’s revitalizing powers. A surprising number, it turns out, were in their 60s and 70s.
Swami Muktananda (1908-82) was an Indian man of great charisma who favored dark glasses and gaudy robes.
At the height of his fame, around 1980, he attracted many thousands of devotees — including movie stars and political celebrities — and succeeded in setting up a network of hundreds of ashrams and meditation centers around the globe. He kept his main shrines in California and New York.
In late 1981, when a senior aide charged that the venerated yogi was in fact a serial philanderer and sexual hypocrite who used threats of violence to hide his duplicity, Mr. Muktananda defended himself as a persecuted saint, and soon died of heart failure.
Joan Bridges was one of his lovers. At the time, she was 26 and he was 73. Like many other devotees, Ms. Bridges had a difficult time finding fault with a man she regarded as a virtual god beyond law and morality.
“I was both thrilled and confused,” she said of their first intimacy in a Web posting. “He told us to be celibate, so how could this be sexual? I had no answers.”
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ReplyDeleteTo denounce the philanderers would be to admit years of empty study and devotion. So many women ended up blaming themselves. Sorting out the realities took years and sometimes decades of pain and reflection, counseling and psychotherapy. In time, the victims began to fight back.
Swami Satchidananda (1914-2002) was a superstar of yoga who gave the invocation at Woodstock. In 1991, protesters waving placards (“Stop the Abuse,” “End the Cover Up”) marched outside a Virginia hotel where he was addressing a symposium.
“How can you call yourself a spiritual instructor,” a former devotee shouted from the audience, “when you have molested me and other women?”
Another case involved Swami Rama (1925-96), a tall man with a strikingly handsome face. In 1994, one of his victims filed a lawsuit charging that he had initiated abuse at his Pennsylvania ashram when she was 19. In 1997, shortly after his death, a jury awarded the woman nearly $2 million in compensatory and punitive damages.
So, too, former devotees at Kripalu, a Berkshires ashram, won more than $2.5 million after its longtime guru — a man who gave impassioned talks on the spiritual value of chastity — confessed to multiple affairs.
The drama with Mr. Friend is still unfolding. So far, at least 50 Anusara teachers have resigned, and the fate of his enterprise remains unclear. In his letter to followers, he promised to make “a full public statement that will transparently address the entirety of this situation.”
The angst of former Anusara teachers is palpable. “I can no longer support a teacher whose actions have caused irreparable damage to our beloved community,” Sarah Faircloth, a North Carolina instructor, wrote on her Web site.
But perhaps — if students and teachers knew more about what Hatha can do, and what it was designed to do — they would find themselves less prone to surprise and unyogalike distress.
William J. Broad is the author of “The Science of Yoga: The Risks and the Rewards,” published this month by Simon & Schuster.
A version of this article appeared in print on February 28, 2012, on page D1 of the New York edition with the headline: Yoga and Sex Scandals: No Surprise Here.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/28/health/nutrition/yoga-fans-sexual-flames-and-predictably-plenty-of-scandal.html