AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald
December 5, 2014
Rachel Browne
Social Affairs Reporter
A former senior member of a yoga centre where children were allegedly sexually and physically assaulted described “violent discipline” as an acceptable part of ashram culture, a royal commission has heard.
A number of former child residents of the Satyananda Yoga Ashram at Mangrove Mountain left the hearing room as a former senior member, known as Shishy, gave evidence.
The commission has previously heard evidence from former child residents that Shishy allegedly subjected them to fierce beatings and summoned teenage girls for sex with the ashram’s leader, Swami Akhandananda Saraswati.
Repeatedly breaking down in the stand, Shishy apologised for the pain and suffering she had caused, including the slapping of children, but said she could not recall some of the more vicious assaults described in evidence.
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