Ex-Austin Temple Member Who Accused Swami in Sex Case Emerges from Shadows

By Eric Dexheimer
The American-Statesman
March 17, 2012

http://www.statesman.com/opinion/insight/ex-austin-temple-member-who-accused-swami-in-2244525.html

Karen Jonson first appeared in the American-Statesman's pages in September 2008, but not in a way recognizable to readers. She was one of five anonymous women I profiled who said they had been groped or pressured for sex by Prakashanand Saraswati and Kripalu Maharaj, the spiritual leaders of the Barsana Dham Hindu temple south of Austin.

The story was a continuation of our coverage of Prakashanand, who six months earlier had been arrested while getting off a plane in Washington, D.C., and charged with 20 counts of indecency with a child. The charges were based on the recollections of two young women who said they'd been molested by Prakashanand as teenagers while growing up on Barsana Dham in the 1990s.

While reporting that story, I tapped into a nascent network of ex-members who said the girls weren't the only ones who'd been subjected to sexual advances from gurus while living at the ashram — five adult women had, too. Jonson, one of those women, eventually became one of my primary contacts, putting me in touch with former devotees and describing details of life at the ashram, where she had lived and worshiped for 15 years.

Kripalu was never charged with any crimes in connection with the described incidents, and Prakashanand adamantly denied all of the accusations of improper conduct. But on a Friday afternoon a year ago this month, a Hays County jury found him guilty of having groped Shyama Rose and Vesla Tonnessen Kazimer, now 30 and 27 years old, respectively. (Similar accusations from a third woman fell just outside the statute of limitations.) By the following Monday, the day he was to be sentenced, the guru had disappeared.

U.S. marshals have said they are relatively certain Prakashanand crossed the border into Mexico, but he remains at large. Meanwhile, the jury sentenced the then-82-year-old spiritual leader in absentia to 14 years in prison on each count against him.

A month after the trial, Barsana Dham quietly changed its name to Radha Madhav Dham and replaced several of its organizational leaders. Today, many of the region's Hindus continue to use the temple and its bucolic 200-acre Hill Country grounds as a meaningful place to socialize and worship.

Four of the five women I first wrote about have maintained their anonymity. Jonson, however, has written a highly personal account of her time living at the ashram, the trial and its aftermath. "Sex, Lies, and Two Hindu Gurus" is being published as an e-book, available on her website (www.rishikaxcult.com). This time, however, she makes no attempt to conceal her identity.

In an interview with the American-Statesman, Jonson spoke about her experiences. Here are excerpts:

Why did you decide to use your real name on the book?

In the very beginning, I wanted to be anonymous because I was afraid. I'd heard stories from other people about some intimidation tactics — the gurus showing up at people's doors, and worse. And I work and live in Austin, and I was embarrassed to have people know that I'd lived in a cult. I was mortified.

When was the first time you didn't care that people knew?

That was right after the trial of Prakashanand. I think what emboldened me was the women in that trial who clearly stood up to the organization. And I thought: If they can do it, I can do it. When a reporter from Houston contacted me after the trial, at first I said, "I want you to use my pen name." Then at the last minute I said, "Go ahead and use my real name."

Have people contacted you since then?

Yes, I've had various people contact me after I started my Facebook page, The Truth Project for Barsana Dham and JKP — a lot of people who have been in the cult and left and who have felt afraid and alone. And some family members of people in the organization who are freaked out their family members are involved.

Have you experienced the backlash you initially feared?

Only online — nothing physical. (Critics) have called me names and were cyberstalking me, especially during the trial and right afterwards, and now with the release of my book.

Do you still have contact with members of the ashram?

No.

In the book, there's a lot you're clearly regretful about regarding your years with the gurus. Was there anything good about living in the ashram?

When someone's gone through a traumatic event, there has to be a silver lining. And for the longest time there I couldn't see it. I was so distressed that I had spent 15 years in such a place. But in hindsight I can say I was able to help the women get a measure of justice, I was able to provide information to the prosecution that was very significant and support the girls the entire way, and then write this book. Now I'm a resource to help people understand the truth. It's bittersweet, really, because while I'm happy to do that, if I could push a reset button and not have ever lived there, I would.

Do you still keep in contact with the women?

Yes. Everybody kind of went through a post-trial period of depression. But we all snapped out of it at the end of last year.

This book seems like therapy for you.

It was very therapeutic. It felt good to put this experience into a structure that had a beginning, middle and end. The process of writing my journal from the beginning was extraordinarily healing.

Has the experience changed your views on faith and religion?

Yes. When I fell into this organization, I was a spiritual addict. I was pretty single-minded in that I needed to find God, and I needed a way to find God. I was very focused on: I must get my soul on the divine road before I die. But that's the essential problem that got me lured into a cult.

Now I totally see religion differently. I don't go to church and, honestly, I can't read or listen to anyone tell me anything about God now. After I left the cult, I felt like I did experience God, and it was a very private experience. It's an internal understanding that's just one to one, just me and whatever or whomever God is, that's not explainable. Now I'm very calm; I'm very centered; I feel secure in the world, secure in my understanding of the infinite.

What's your epilogue?

I feel God put me in the place he or she needed me to be. I knew people who had left (the ashram) over the years, and I'll bet they knew some of this. So why didn't they tell me? No one had warned me. And I thought, I do not want to be one of those people.

Contact Eric Dexheimer at 445-1774