Child Abuse1 Royal Commission: Yoga Movement Did Not View Child Abuse As Crime, Victim Says

By Claire Aird
ABC News
December 4, 2014

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-12-04/child-abuse-royal-commission-satyananda-yoga-ashram/5935968

PHOTO: Bhakti Manning said she was sexually abused by three men involved in the Satyananda yoga movement. (ABC News)

Child sexual abuse was not considered a crime at a New South Wales yoga retreat where young residents were frequently targeted, a royal commission has heard.

Bhakti Manning is one of 11 former child residents and visitors to the Satyananda Yoga Ashram, at Mangrove Mountain on the state's central coast, giving evidence for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

The commission heard evidence of the child residents' abuse at the hands of the retreat's director and spiritual leader, Swami Akhandananda Saraswati, during the 1970s and 1980s.

Ms Manning said she was also abused by a visiting swami in Australia, Gorakhnath, and later in India at age 16 by the head of the international movement, Satyananda Saraswati.

She said Satyananda knew she had already been abused by the two men, and then forced her to perform degrading, aggressive and violent sexual acts.

Ms Manning said she did not complain because she feared she would be considered a criminal within the group and first disclosed the abuse to a counsellor in 2005.

"The only person who was going to be considered [a] criminal if I reported to the people at the ashram was me, for being a bad disciple and not accepting what the guru had chosen to do to me for my own good," she said.

"A crime is defined by a society. In the Ashram society, what a guru does is done for the good of a disciple."

While Satyananda preached chastity and abstinence, he was having sex with multiple partners, she said.

When asked what contraception was used, Ms Manning said: "I personally think that Satyananda was firing blanks. But for other people, it was a matter of sending them off for an abortion, usually to Calcutta".

"If they fell pregnant to a swami other than him, in a non-condoned relationship, they might be offered redemption in forms of sleeping with Satyananda when they got back," she said.

Helpline numbers removed from Facebook page

At the end of 2013 and in the lead up to the ashram's 40th anniversary, former residents began posting about their experiences on its Facebook page.

PHOTO: The Satyananda Yoga Ashram is the first faith-based organisation outside the church to come under scrutiny at the royal commission. (Facebook)

The ashram joined the discussion, posting an apology and an invitation to the celebrations.

However, in March this year, the ashram removed some of the posts, labelling them libellous.

Ms Manning said the ashram also removed the royal commission's helpline number and a contact number for a trauma counselling service.

"They had taken down those posts so people accessing the page did not get that information," she said.

"I do believe that the ashram's motivations in their response to this is all about keeping their money."