Child abuse royal commission: Yoga leader told children sex acts would aid 'spiritual growth', by Brad Ryan, Nicole Chettle And Emily Bourke, ABC News (December 2, 2014)

Child abuse royal commission: Yoga leader told children sex acts would aid 'spiritual growth'

The spiritual leader of a New South Wales yoga retreat sexually abused child residents after summoning them to a hut and asking them for a massage, an inquiry has heard.

Children were also allegedly directed to travel around Australia with the man, known as Swami Akhandananda Saraswati, and perform sexual acts in his bed.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has opened its 21st case study, focused on the the Satyananda Yoga Ashram at Mangrove Mountain in the hinterland of the New South Wales central coast.

The commission is examining allegations from the 1970s and 1980s involving the ashram's former leader, Akhandananda, who was jailed for sex offences in the late 1980s but had his conviction overturned before his death in 1997.

Counsel assisting the commission, Peggy Dwyer, said nine alleged victims would give evidence of sexual and physical abuse, and statements would be tendered by another two.

"I expect that the royal commission will hear evidence that this sexual abuse often occurred in the hut that Akhandananda shared with [fellow swami] Shishy," Ms Dwyer told the Sydney hearing.

"A particular child would be summoned by Shishy or another resident to attend on Akhandananda to massage him, and the massaging would progress to sexual abuse."

Ms Dwyer said the commission would also hear "that some of the children were directed to accompany Akhandananda on trips around Australia and at night time they were told to sleep in his bed and made to perform sexual acts".

Former child residents will give evidence that they were told by Akhandananda that ... engaging in sexual activity with him was for their own spiritual growth.

Counsel assisting the commission Peggy Dwyer

"The royal commission is likely to hear from survivors that a similar method was used to prevent them from disclosing the abuse – that is, they were threatened by Akhandananda with being beaten or cast out of the ashram if they ever spoke of what had happened, and some were told that no-one would understand or believe them if they revealed what was taking place," Ms Dwyer said.

"It is anticipated that the former child residents will give evidence that they were told by Akhandananda that he needed to break down their physical barriers, and that engaging in sexual activity with him was for their own spiritual growth."

It is also alleged the female swami known as Shishy also violently assaulted children at the ashram, and sometimes lined them up as a group and slapped them across the face, Ms Dwyer said.

Shishy and Akhandananda shared a room at the ashram and had a sexual relationship, she said.

One survivor of abuse at the ashram told the royal commission she unwittingly brought other girls to the spiritual leader, who abused them too.

Alecia Buchanan said that despite preaching abstinence, the leader Akhandananda groomed her for abuse and used her sexually for two years, often in front of Shishy.

Ms Buchanan was 15 when she was asked to clean the couple's room and accompany them on trips. On a visit to Daylesford in Victoria she said she was asked to perform a massage that led to sexual intercourse.

"On many occasions before or during molesting me he threatened me with his hand hovering near my face and told me I wasn't allowed to speak to anybody about it, especially my mother," she said.

"'If you tell your mother I'll have to beat you.' He threatened to expel me. He also reminded me that he had a gun and pointed to it standing in a corner."

Ms Buchanan said her knowledge of sex was limited to the children's book "Where did I come from", which she read before moving to the ashram when she was 13.

"He used me to get other younger girls into his bed and he succeeded because I was conditioned to follow his orders."

Ms Buchanan said she did not realise at the time that other children were being molested. She said she suffered anxiety, depression and gynaecological problems for many years.

She said she was appalled by what she described as a "27-year silence" from the ashram.

The lawyer for the ashram apologised and said that some victims may view its response as pathetic, and "too little, too late".

"For the abuse of our innocents, our most vulnerable members of our society and our children we say sorry," solicitor Aaron Kernaghan read from a statement.

"To their mothers and their fathers, their brothers and their sisters, we say sorry. For all that you have gone through we are deeply sorry. We respect your survival, your strength, your individuality and your history. We are and will always be sorry."

The Satyananda Yoga Ashram advertises itself as the largest yoga retreat centre in the southern hemisphere.

The ashram, which has been a teaching centre for nearly four decades, is the first faith-based organisation outside the church to come under scrutiny at the royal commission.

Akhandananda was jailed in 1989 for sexually abusing four teenage girls whilst they were residing at the ashram, including Ms Buchanan.

She said she felt "victimised all over again" when Akhandananda's conviction was overturned on appeal and he was released after serving 14 months in prison.

"To overturn any convictions against him, it just felt to me like I was being erased from the story," Ms Buchanan told AM.

"I am expecting and hoping that there is a very bright light shone on this particular ashram and then I hope, over time, others, and all the related properties and organisations that are affiliated with the ashram.

"The ashram's a place that has operated very much in shadow for a very long time, and I really, for me, would like to see there's lights shone into the more of the dark corners."

"They've indicated to me that they wish to acknowledge what has happened and of course their deep regret for what has happened," he told AM.