Denials

This page includes comments from people who deny sexual abuse ever happened, or if they acknowledge the abuse, they deny that it matters, that it should be discussed, or that it still needs healing after many years because it has never been properly addressed..

A link to this website was shared by Joan Cichon in the Friends of Yogaville Community Association private Facebook group. It was met by the following comment from a long-time ordained Integral Yoga Minister:

“What is your point? You are just stirring up negative energy instead of healing and moving forward. If you can’t help, get off your soap box. It’s time to move forward and heal and bring Yogaville community and sangha to a forward moving motion rather than focusing on things that happened 20-50 years ago. Those of us who love Yogaville respect and love our Guru and are fed up with this continued attack on our organization and consequently all of us who live here. Stop your negativity. We don’t want it. It is not appreciated by anyone. If you don’t like it, then move on. Jai Gurudev, Jai Yogaville, Jai community! Note the name of this page!!! FRIENDS of Yogaville. You aren’t.”

Reply from Joan Cichon:

Reply from the Integral Yoga minister:

Reply from Joan Cichon:

Reply from the Integral Yoga minister:

Reply from Joan Cichon:

Every July, the Integral Yoga sangha celebrates Guru Poornima, a time to honor the inner (and for some people, the outer) “guru” – the “dispeller of darkness.” This year (2023), the following was posted on the Friends of Yogaville Community Association private Facebook group. The message is shared here anonymously since it clearly illustrates the type of thinking that continues to hinder acknowledgement of the truth and the needed healing for the entire community. Shanti Norris’ response follows as well…..

Guru Poornima Reflections

“Hari Om. At this time it seemed appropriate to me to post a follow-up to some previous comments I posted here earlier, near the beginning of the current controversies. I got a variety of reactions to my comments, not all of which were conveyed to me online. Some were supportive, some were not.. some felt I was not sensitive enough to the pain many people were feeling. I am indeed aware of this pain.. we all feel it.. and also, we all are probably familiar with the famous old saying, “no pain, no gain”. Some people expressed confusion and profound disappointment: How could anyone [Swami Satchidananda] who radiated so much love, wisdom and healing energy, and demonstrated such superhuman levels of service and accomplishment, in both the physical and spiritual realms, and have done it all with such ease and grace, have fallen victim to such all too human foibles?

“For me, the answer seems clear. Based on the teachings he gave us, I accept that he was, as he allowed us to believe and to treat him, indeed a wholly enlightened being, as defined in the yogic teachings and scriptures. That would mean that he had no personal karma; it had all been burned up, as his burnt orange robes were meant to symbolize. I recall hearing a close devotee who worked at his side for many years express that it sometimes felt when serving with him that there was just “no one there”. Likewise, I remember him saying many times that he was just a “leaf blowing in the wind”, being taken and responding wherever the higher power took him. We unenlightened devotees, however, are not yet free of our personal karma. In any relations we had with him personally, I accept that he was just an empty vessel, reflecting back to us whatever we needed or wanted from him, whether consciously or unconsciously. Thus, accepting the limitations of my own understanding, I am proceeding forward with my faith intact and in the hope that these thoughts will resonate positively in the spirit with which they are offered.”

Response by Shanti Norris:

This post, and the mostly objecting comments have been deleted from the Friends of Yogaville Community Association page. As has my comment. . . . This makes no sense to me either. Myself and every other woman I have spoken to do not agree that the coerced sex did us any favors or was ‘good for us’ in some mystical way. He manipulated and betrayed my trust, my love, my service, my devotion and dedication – and that of dozens of other young female students. The argument that because he did so much good in the world, somehow justifies this abuse is ridiculous. Apparently [the author above] feels that the price paid by me and many others women is justified – a small price to pay for people like him who feel full of faith.

In my experience, the fact that [Swami Satchidananda] appeared to us as so loving and SAFE, is what makes the betrayals and abuse even worse. For a trusted teacher, father, guide, to betray female students is abhorrent and unacceptable. I personally don’t care to try and change anyone else’s beliefs. Do what you want with the factual information of dozens of women being sexually abused by your teacher. But for an organization to continue to lie about this – and require swamis, senior teachers and students, etc. to continue to uphold lies is unconscionable. Justify your own personal belief system however you want – but don’t continue to hide the truth and lie to the public at large – especially in the name of being representatives and teachers of the highest spiritual truths.

The San Francisco IYI Teachers’ Feedback (located HERE), was met by this response from a longtime IY Swami:

Regarding your recent proposal: I write as an individual, as I am not a member of any of the IYI committees or boards. I write as someone who was very alarmed to hear that you propose to remove Swamiji’s photos from the center on Dolores Street. I think the allegations have been useful — in bringing to light an untruth, and in exposing the disfunction of the leadership committees. But after reading the proposal it seems to me that it’s time to draw a line. Please give this a thought: if you take down the photos of Gurudev, you had better clear out the All Saints Room too — every one of those luminaries had their flaws! AND .. revise our Raja Teaching to eliminate the four locks and keys and probably revise the Yamas and Niyamas to take out Ishwara Pranidhana. And by the way, Bhakti Yoga is allowed in only one room in the house!

It comes down to this: are we going to allow the values of Social Activism [Webmaster note: the Swami is probably referring to the #MeToo movement] to supersede the principles of Integral Yoga? Where will it stop? If I were in a position of authority I would say this:· The IYI is a place where Gurudev and his teachings are honored, whether or not he was celibate.· We will not be apologizing to the women who felt hurt by him — we are not capable to looking into his mind or speaking on his behalf. We cannot see what he saw or know what he knew, nor can we know the ultimate outcome of his choices.·

We can apologize that we his devotees have overlooked his errors and not listened to his detractors.· We can also commit to improving our transparency and honesty and accountability.· If you truly cannot align with the teachings of Integral Yoga, then please create your own separate institutions. Around the world, our yoga students urgently need our undivided attention and support — truly! I suggest that we put aside the allegation issues, and serve together whole-heartedly to bring as much Peace as we can, wherever we can!

Response to the Swami by Sharada Thompson:

I’m writing this to respond to a letter which was sent by a prominent swami to over 100 people at the SF IYI relating to the actions being taken there. Because it was written to a large group of teachers and concerned SF Sangha members, I think it is fair to include it in the ongoing discourse.

Each time I read it, I feel more upset at both the tone and the content. This woman became a swami to serve humanity. She devoted herself fully to that. And now she’s saying if you don’t like this organization that many people helped build, you should leave and form your own organization? She, and the other monastics are making Guru Bhakti [devotion to the guru] a litmus test that will make it very difficult to move past all of this.

There are many statements in the letter that are simply foolish or not really accurate to what the SF IYI is getting at, and I’m tempted to pick them apart rhetorically, but I will restrain myself and simply say: How dare she say that the reforms they propose disqualify them from being part of Integral Yoga? These IYI teachers selflessly teach and train others and are in all ways devoted to the teachings.

And, by the way, these teachers are the future of Integral Yoga. She is, in effect, disowning the children and casting them out. She would rather destroy the future of the IYI than engage in the healing process.

This is what’s wrong with the order, in a nutshell. Their thinking has become ossified. There is no attempt to find common ground….if you don’t like it, leave. She says: it’s our way or the highway. And how did the IYI happen? It happened because a whole bunch of people got together and pooled their resources so that the beautiful SF IYI could exist. They nurtured and sustained it for fifty years. How dare she tell them they don’t belong?

A reflection from the same Swami mentioned above:

MY REFLECTIONS

In 1971, Vijay Hassin gathered our close sangha and told us that there had been an allegation of sex against Sri Gurudev. There were speculation and rumors from that day forward but I never saw a speck of evidence. And I was around him for thousands of hours in hundreds of settings in five different countries. What I did see was impeccable conduct and enormous evidence of his enlightenment; most notably my own transformation from a “hot mess” to being a somewhat reasonable human being.

Personally, I think of Sri Gurudev as my best friend and the greatest blessing of all my incarnations.

I have three thoughts about the current spate of allegations.

One: that it may be an error to expect the enlightened woman or man to conform to our Western value system. Yogi Ram Surat Kumar chain-smoked and referred to himself as “this beggar.” He fell asleep during one of our satsangs … ostensibly sleeping! I was sitting next to him that day, fanning him as he dozed, and my body underwent a total healing. Another guru swore at me and announced that he would kill me where I was seated and only my corpse would go back to America. In a sense, he did kill me on that day, because my life changed – to my ever-lasting benefit.

Second: whatever goes on between two people is notoriously subjective It is a given that we will never nail down a Truth here, and it’s pointless to claim that my Truth is better than your Truth– that would be like the four blind men and the elephant. Who among us can see the whole picture?

Third: celebrate the beauty wherever we find it, and be indifferent to the errors or darkness in the behaviors of others. Aren’t we supposed to live by this guideline? Don’t we all want to do our part to broadcast a peaceful energy into this world?

As it is, it feels like we’re replicating the conflicts of the war-torn parts of the world and generating some harmful energies.

This issue can either break us apart or guide us to a new platform from which to rebuild our community. I think it’s time for us to put our attention on what our common ground is, what our common goals are, and how to build new and better.

Response from Joan Cichon:

Sadly, [the Swami] seems to be wiling to throw out the Yamas and Niyamas, as well as the harm done by Satchidananda’s betrayal to all the women so painfully abused by their trusted teacher and to the community at large. This is not the yoga or community most of us were attracted to. I hope those of you who still think the IY can be saved are successful. I have moved on, but am still connected by the family and friends I’ve left behind — all of you, and my heart breaks each time I see another swami take the low road, following their teacher in continuing this abuse. The teachings are greater than their messenger. If you meet the Buddha on the road and cannot bring yourself to kill him [this is a Buddhist teaching], at least have the clear vision to refrain from falling at his feet in schoolgirl adoration.

On September 17, 2023, a long-time ordained Integral Yoga minister posted the following on her Facebook page: “This is what I am learning, at 82 years old, the main thing is to be in love with the search for truth. – Maya Angelou”

This led to a discussion of Truth and the importance of being truthful regarding the sexual abuse perpetrated by Swami Satchidananda. One commenter, a “denier,” had this to say:

Shanti Norris responded:

Another letter to friends from an Integral Yoga Swami:

“Your thinking about your problems just feeds them and makes them worse. Concentrate on developing your positive qualities and the problems will take care of themselves.” – Sri Swami Satchidananda

Keep your heart calm. The issues we discussed . . . today are really ordinary ones that exist in so many organizations around the world. Equanimity is the best course. Meanwhile I’m going to write an extemporaneous statement that expresses my sentiments in relation to the accusations of Sri Gurudev. I believe that Sri Gurudev was enlightened at the highest level. We who knew Him well never doubted his ethics nor saw any lapses in his personal discipline. He was at all times, in complete control of Himself. (I have never seen Him yawn, for instance.)

I don’t think it is the role of the student to pass judgement on the guru. We cannot know His mind, we cannot know His intention, we cannot know His capacity. It would be like trying to pass judgement on the conduct of an extra-terrestrial.

So far as I am concerned, if there is any scandal attached to His name, it was His will that it should be so, for the training and growth of the organization. Once we have chosen a guru and a path, it is our responsibility to be one-pointed and to practice without distraction. The gossips around Sri Gurudev are nothing more than distractions, tests for our sincerity.