Well, not necessarily Saraswati and Lakshmi, but some gurus are considered avatars/manifestations of god.
A series of cases of child sexual abuse by
this guru was reported by followers in Australia. He (still) leads another Rajasthan-based international group called Yoga in Daily Life. It was revealed that ’senior’ female followers helped him groom under-aged girls (between 10-16 years old) for what he called ‘tantric initiation”, which those trusted women believed was fine because he was god and knew what was best. That was actually reported. The whistle was blown by one woman who, herself abused when young, baulked when her daughter’s time was approaching and was reminded of her own pain and trauma.
This has caused a split - in Australia at least - between those who trusted god and those who thought it was all unconscionable. They have recently sold their large property probably worth about $2.5 millon which was coincidentally near where I live. Some of the splinter group, former followers, now run Yoga classes renting venues nearby.
The difference between this case, where it was the head guru who hasn’t returned to Australia since, and the other recent, more infamous one at the Mangrove Mountain NSW ashram of Satyananda Yoga, affiliated to Bihar Yoga Bharati, India- the first Yoga ashram in australia - is that the culprit in the latter case was only the local head, so the more senior guru back in India was able to ‘excommunicate’ him and a few others, so able to minimise the damage. Their crimes went back decades. They got away with it so long because there is a power imbalance - between the followers who give authority to these other ”more spiritual” people and those who seek to maintain hierarchy so choose to ignore complaints from those further down The Ladder, telling them to send their complaints to the very abusers or their accomplices.
08 Apr 2015
