Royal commission hears Yoga guru and his partner groomed and abused teenage followers in 70s, 80sEmily Bourke, ABC Radio News, reported this story on Tuesday, December 2, 2014.
NICK GRIMM: The Child Abuse Royal Commission has opened a public hearing into the allegations of child sexual abuse at a Yoga ashram in the hinterland of the New South Wales Central Coast. The inquiry is framing an investigation around the ashram's former spiritual leader who abused teenage girls living in the commune in the 1970s and 1980s. Our correspondent covering the inquiry is Emily Bourke and she joins me now.
Emily, the Mangrove Mountain Yoga retreat centre is the first non-mainstream organisation to come under scrutiny at the royal commission, as I understand it. What's the scope of this case study?
EMILY BOURKE: Nick, the royal commission has heard some detail about the practical and financial workings of this community.
Now, while it's a Yoga and meditation retreat, and all of that's part of daily life,
it was founded on the philosophies of abstinence, chastity and austerity. Worldly possessions were renounced by those who resided there, and outside connections are largely severed. And, in keeping with that, most of the older children - particularly in the 70s and 80s - were educated via correspondence, and that environment, the inquiry's been told, made children particularly vulnerable. Family relationships were discouraged; parents and children at the ashram were separated. Parents in fact were sent away to set up ashrams elsewhere around Australia - sometimes with only an hour's notice.
Now, the director of the ashram was Swami Akhandanand Saraswati, and children were encouraged to treat him and his partner Shishy as their parents. Now counsel assisting the inquiry, Peggy Dwyer, explained how the girls were sexually abused by the guru and were also threatened with violence and suffered beatings.
PEGGY DWYER: A particular child would be summoned by Shishy or another resident to attend on Akhandanand to massage him and the massaging would progress to sexual abuse. And on many of those occasions, Shishy was in the room at the time the abuse occurred. They were threatened by Akhandanand with being beaten or cast out of the ashram if they spoke of what happened. And some were told that no-one would understand them or believe them if they revealed what was taking place.
It's anticipated that the former child residents will give evidence that they were told by Akhandanand that he needed to break down their physical barriers and that engaging in sexual activity with him was for their spiritual growth. Some of the survivors are likely to speak of being beaten by Akhandanand with a carved wooden stick known as a kundalini stick.
I anticipate that the royal commission will hear that the relationship the children had with Shishy was complex in that, on the one hand, she was regarded by some at least, as a motherly figure, and the children competed for her attention and favour, but that, on the other hand, she could be brutal.
NICK GRIMM: And that was counsel assisting the inquiry Peggy Dwyer speaking there. Emily Bourke is still with me. What's known, Emily, about how the ashram responded when these allegations were first surfaced and what's their position now?
EMILY BOURKE: Well, the leadership in India seemingly dismissed the allegations when they were first reported in the mid-1980s, but as recently as this year, it's emerged that the ashram told victims that their comments on social media were libellous. Others were told that letters they sent to some of the teaching staff at the ashram were defamatory and that there was a threat of legal consequences if they persisted. Now, the ashram says it's at a turning point and it wants to be accountable - even if that's doubted by others in the community. The ashram says it doesn't know how best to interact with the survivors and it's admitted that it's made mistakes and errors of judgement in its attempts at reconciliation.
Aaron Kernaghan is the lawyer representing the ashram and he read this statement on behalf of his clients.
AARON KERNAGHAN: We apologise for the failures of the ashram, its people and its leaders throughout its history into the present day. We apologise especially for the acts of sexual abuse committed by those within our movement who victimised children by claiming authority over them or who, in any way, used the principles that we believe in to harm innocent people.
It was profoundly wrong and it is a disgraceful reflection upon our organisation historically and to the present time. We recognise now that we have failed to address the hurt, the shame and the harm that has been the ongoing effect of the abuse. Until this year, we did not fully understand the impact that the abuse has had on the victims, their families and, indeed, the whole organisation.
NICK GRIMM: Lawyer, Aaron Kernaghan speaking there. Emily, who's expected to give evidence over the coming week and a half of this phase?
EMILY BOURKE: Well, Akhandanand himself is no longer alive; he died some years ago, but we will from his former partner Shishy. Eleven former child residents who were also victims will give evidence either in person or in writing.
Alecia Buchanan is a former resident and she's told me about the immense isolation she felt when she emerged from the ashram and what the royal commission process has meant for her.
ALECIA BUCHANAN: We felt a bit like freaks and we were already unusual in that, as children, we ran around in orange clothes, we had our head shaved.
When they see a whole group of people that look like a cult, it was a cult essentially, and it's hard for them to understand their experiences.
But coming to the royal commission, I share so many experiences, unfortunately, with other people and children who have grown up under the care of the Catholic Church and other religious organisations.
So, for me, it's just so empowering and I just feel so much more a part of the world now than I ever did.NICK GRIMM: Child abuse victim and survivor, Alecia Buchanan, and Emily Bourke was with me before that.