AUSTRALIA
Brisbane Times
December 3, 2014
Annette Blackwell
A woman has told an enquiry she was sexually abused by Satyananda Sarswati – the man who founded the worldwide yoga movement with branches across the world including Australia.
In a statement to a royal commission examining child sexual abuse at a NSW Satyananda ashram, Bhakati Manning said she was abused by two senior swamis in ashrams in Australia and “by the spiritual founder of Satyananda yoga”.
She said the abuse happened when she was 15 at the Mangrove Yoga Ashram on NSW’s Central Coast.
She was 17 when she travelled to the famous Munger ashram in India in 1976 to study with the respected yogi whom she had met in Australia.
Ms Manning said shortly after her arrival, he fondled her genitals and said something to the effect “this is our relationship, don’t tell anyone”.
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