SWAMI SATCHIDANANDA WAS THE FOUNDER of the Yogaville
ashram in Buckingham County, Virginia—begun in 1979—and its satellite
Integral Yoga institutes in New York, San Francisco and else-where.
He was born in southern India in 1914 and married young but, after
his wife’s death, left his children and embarked at age twenty-eight on a
full-time spiritual quest.
In 1949 he was initiated as a swami by his own spiritual master, the
renowned Swami Sivananda, having searched the mountains and forests of
India to find that sage in Rishikesh. His monastic name, Satchidananda,
means “Existence-Knowledge-Bliss.”
He came to New York in 1966 as a guest of the psychedelic artist Peter Max.
Word soon spread that Satchidananda had cured the kidney ailment of a disciple by blessing a glass of water.
He spoke at Woodstock in 1969, having been flown in via helicopter to bless the historic music festival:
I am very happy to see that we are all gathered to create
some “making” sounds, to find that peace and joy through the celestial
music. I am honored for having been given the opportunity of opening
this great, great music festival (Sat-chidananda, in [Wiener, 1972]).
Even prior to Woodstock, Satchidananda had sold out Carnegie Hall,
being viewed as one of the “class acts” in the spiritual marketplace.
His views on nutrition were solicited by the Pillsbury Corporation.
By the beginning of the 1970s, thousands of Integral Yoga devotees
studied at fifteen centers around the United States. By the late ’70s,
Satchidananda’s (1977) followers numbered in the hundreds of thousands.
Included in that group have been the health and diet expert Dr. Dean
Ornish, model Lauren Hutton, Jeff “The Fly” Goldblum, and Carol “You’ve
Got a Friend” King, who donated Connecticut land to the yogi’s
organization.
Having acquired other, warmer property for Yogaville in Vir-ginia,
Sivananda Hall was built there, complete with a wooden throne for the
guru, set atop a large stage at one end of the hall. Life for the poorer
“subjects” within that 600-acre spiritual king-dom, however, was
apparently less than regal:
The ritual abnegations of the sannyasin [monks] included a pledge to
“dedicate my entire life and renounce all the things which I call mine
at the feet of Sri Gurudev [i.e., Satchida-nanda]. This includes my
body, mind, emotions, intellect, and all the material goods in my
possession.” Though they weren’t expected to pay for basics like food
and lodging, they were relegated to rickety trailers sometimes infested
with mice or lice (Katz, 1992).
In the midst of his followers’ reported poverty, Satchidananda
himself nevertheless acquired an antique Cadillac and a cherry red
Rolls-Royce.
Further, and somewhat oddly given Satchidananda’s Wood-stock
background, in the ashram itself dozens of onetime children of rock ‘n’
roll sat down to make lists of “offensive” songs and television shows
to be banned within Yogaville’s borders. Soon after, dating between
ashram children was banned through the end of high school. Then all
children attending the ashram school were asked to sign a document
pledging that they would not date, have sexual contact, listen to
restricted music, or watch restricted television shows.
Satchidananda never came forth to comment formally on the new
restrictions, but residents understood that the rules carried his
implied imprimatur (Katz, 1992).
With those restrictions in place, an ashram member was soon reported for listening to a Bruce Springsteen album.
Increasingly oddly, given all that: Rivers Cuomo, the lead singer of
the power-pop band Weezer, spent much of his first ten years in
Yogaville.
* * *
Some people take advantage of the language in the tantric scriptures, “I’m going to teach you tantric yoga,” they say. “Come sleep with me.” With a heavy heart I tell you that some so-called gurus do this, and to them I say, “If you want to have sex, be open about it. Say, ‘I love you, child, I love you, my devotee’”....
Yoga monks automatically become celibate when they have a thirst to
know the Absolute God, and feel that in order to do so they must rise
above the physical body and the senses (Satchidananda, in [Mandelkorn,
1978]).
[T]he distinguishing mark of a Guru is, as Sri Swamiji [i.e.,
Satchidananda] says, “complete mastery over his or her body and mind,
purity of heart, and total freedom from the bond-age of the senses” (in
Satchidananda, 1977).
The taking of the monastic vows in which the title of “Swami” is
conferred again inherently includes a vow of celibacy. That serious
promise, however, may not have stopped the “Woodstock Swami” from, as
they say, “rocking out,” via Springsteen’s The Rising or otherwise:In
1991 numerous female followers stated that he had used his role as their
spiritual mentor to exploit them sexually. After the allegations became
public many devotees abandoned Satchidananda and hundreds of students
left IYI schools, but the Swami never admitted to any wrongdoing.
As a result, the Integral Yoga organization diminished by more than
1/3. An organization called the Healing Through the Truth Network was
formed and at least eight other women came forward with claims of sexual
abuse (S. Cohen, 2002a).
[Susan Cohen claims that] Satchidananda took advantage of her when
she was a student from 1969 [when she was eighteen] to 1977 (Associated
Press, 1991).
Another follower, nineteen-year-old Sylvia Shapiro, accompanied the
swami on a worldwide trip.“In Manila, he turned [his twice-daily
massages from me] into oral sex,” Ms. Shapiro said (Associated Press,
1991).
Until December [of 1990], Joy Zuckerman was living at Yogaville,
where she was known as Swami Krupaananda. She left after a friend
confided in her that Satchidananda had made sexual advances toward her
last summer, Ms. Zuckerman said (McGehee, 1991).
* * *
A Guru is the one
who has steady wisdom ... one who has realized the Self. Having that
realization, you become so steady; you are never nervous. You will
always be tranquil, nothing can shake you (Satchidananda, 1977).
Satchidananda’s own driver, however, recognized characteristics other than such holy ones, in the swami:
After hours of sitting in traffic jams observing his spiritual master
in the rearview mirror, Harry had decided that Sri Swami Satchidananda
was not only far from serene, he was a bilious and unforgivingly cranky
old man. Not once had Harry felt his spiritual bond with Satchidananda
enhanced by all the carping, however edifyingly paternal it was meant to
be (Katz, 1992).As they say, “No man is great in the eyes of his own
valet.”
In describing how a “steady” man would see the world, Satchidananda (1977) further quoted Krishna from the Bhagavad Gita:
Men of Self-knowledge look with equal vision on a brahmana [i.e., a
spiritual person] imbued with learning and humility, a cow, an elephant,
a dog and an outcaste.
There is, however, always the contrast between theory and practice:
Lorraine was standing beside one of [Satchidananda’s] Cadillacs ...
when the beautiful model [Lauren Hutton] and the guru came out and
climbed inside. Satchidananda did not acknowledge Lorraine’s presence
except to glare at her and bark in his irritated father voice, “Don’t
slam the door” (Katz, 1992).
* * *
Satchidananda passed away in August of 2002. Before he died, he
had this to say regarding the allegations of sexual misconduct made
against him:
“They know it is all false,” [Satchidananda] had said about eight
years ago [i.e., in 1991]. “I don’t know why they are saying these
things. My life is an open book. There is nothing for me to hide” (S.
Chopra, 1999).
Yogaville, meanwhile, is still very much alive, albeit amid a more
recently alleged “mind control” scandal involving a university-age
woman, Catherine Cheng (Extra, 1999).
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