Ex Siddha Yoga Swami Vivekananda saw Muktananda having sex
Swami Vivekananda, now know as Master Charles, was with Swami Muktananda for about 12 years. He left Siddha Yoga shortly after Muktananda’s death in 1982. He now runs his own organization called Synchronicity Foundation in Virginia. Master Charles has just released his spiritual autobiography called, “The Bliss of Freedom; a contemporary mystic’s enlightening journey”. (ACACIA Publishing 1997). In this book, he talks of his actually seeing Muktananda having sex with a female assistant.
“One day some urgent business appeared that demanded immediate attention. It was early evening, and Muktananda had retired to his quarters. He had his dinner around seven-thirty and thereafter remained in his room until he retired, usually no later than ten o’clock. We rarely disturbed him in the evening, but this was a special situation, and I needed to have his immediate decision. I went to his quarters and knocked at the downstairs door, but there was no answer. His personal assistant was not there, which seemed unusual, but since I had close association with him, I tried the door. It was open, so I decided to let myself in and see if he was available to handle the urgent business.
I entered and quietly climbed the stairs to the second floor, where I knew I would find him in his room. In these days, there was a drape across the doorway to his room. It was a cultural custom and also allowed his attendant to monitor him without totally invading his privacy. As I came up to the draped doorway, I thought I heard someone in he room with him. I stopped, listened, and affirmed that it was so, but the sounds I heard were not conversation. Rather, there were the sounds of two people being intimate.
I couldn’t believe what I thought I was hearing, because of my lofty image of him, and moving closer to the door, I peered through the slit in the drapes before entering the room. What I saw stopped me cold in my tracks, and the bottom fell right out of my stomach – right out of my whole life. For there was Muktananda engaged in mutual sexual intimacy with one of his female assistants. I became absolutely still and silent. I was in shock. Slowly, I backed away from the door and ever so quietly made my way back down the stairs and out the entrance. I went to my nearby room and watched through emotional upheaval a my whole world crumbled around me and totally collapsed.”
Swami Vivekananda / Master Charles, goes on in his book to discuss his initial shock and how he then “blames” (my word) himself for not understanding Muktananda’s behavior. In the end he accepts the sexual behavior of Muktananda. If you are interested, you may read the book. We will comment more on this later as I have known many current day Siddha Yoga devotees who have also rationalized Muktananda’s sexual behavior into being acceptable. No one bothers to address the abuse of his role (like a minister having sex with a parishioner or a therapist with a patient) or the ongoing cover-up and lying by SYDA and it’s members or the sexual abuse of minors.
Pendragon March 1997
Ex Siddha Yoga Swami Vivekananda saw Muktananda having sex
Swami Vivekananda, now know as Master Charles, was with Swami Muktananda for about 12 years. He left Siddha Yoga shortly after Muktananda’s death in 1982. He now runs his own organization called Synchronicity Foundation in Virginia. Master Charles has just released his spiritual autobiography called, “The Bliss of Freedom; a contemporary mystic’s enlightening journey”. (ACACIA Publishing 1997). In this book, he talks of his actually seeing Muktananda having sex with a female assistant.
“One day some urgent business appeared that demanded immediate attention. It was early evening, and Muktananda had retired to his quarters. He had his dinner around seven-thirty and thereafter remained in his room until he retired, usually no later than ten o’clock. We rarely disturbed him in the evening, but this was a special situation, and I needed to have his immediate decision. I went to his quarters and knocked at the downstairs door, but there was no answer. His personal assistant was not there, which seemed unusual, but since I had close association with him, I tried the door. It was open, so I decided to let myself in and see if he was available to handle the urgent business.
I entered and quietly climbed the stairs to the second floor, where I knew I would find him in his room. In these days, there was a drape across the doorway to his room. It was a cultural custom and also allowed his attendant to monitor him without totally invading his privacy. As I came up to the draped doorway, I thought I heard someone in he room with him. I stopped, listened, and affirmed that it was so, but the sounds I heard were not conversation. Rather, there were the sounds of two people being intimate.
I couldn’t believe what I thought I was hearing, because of my lofty image of him, and moving closer to the door, I peered through the slit in the drapes before entering the room. What I saw stopped me cold in my tracks, and the bottom fell right out of my stomach – right out of my whole life. For there was Muktananda engaged in mutual sexual intimacy with one of his female assistants. I became absolutely still and silent. I was in shock. Slowly, I backed away from the door and ever so quietly made my way back down the stairs and out the entrance. I went to my nearby room and watched through emotional upheaval a my whole world crumbled around me and totally collapsed.”
Swami Vivekananda / Master Charles, goes on in his book to discuss his initial shock and how he then “blames” (my word) himself for not understanding Muktananda’s behavior. In the end he accepts the sexual behavior of Muktananda. If you are interested, you may read the book. We will comment more on this later as I have known many current day Siddha Yoga devotees who have also rationalized Muktananda’s sexual behavior into being acceptable. No one bothers to address the abuse of his role (like a minister having sex with a parishioner or a therapist with a patient) or the ongoing cover-up and lying by SYDA and it’s members or the sexual abuse of minors.
Pendragon March 1997
Below is the Email correspondence that took place between myself and a JB McFadden from Synchronicity.
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Sent 2 Mar 97: The following email was sent to “Master Charles” formally known as Swami Vivekananda. His “group” is known as Synchronicity High-Tech Meditation and can be reached at synch@synchronicity.org. Dear Charles, As a former Siddha Yoga swami, you helped bring people into sy and helped to keep them there. I wonder, now that you have left, do you feel any responsibility for this? While I understand your desire to do your own thing and as you have distanced yourself from SY (you make no mention of having worked for them in your web site) don’t you think there is a duty to set the record straight? We, the public, former and current members of SY, listened for years to your (and the other swamis and teachers) instructions and requested your guidance. We would now like to know why you left SY? Were you aware of Muktananda’s sexual abuse as alleged in the The Secret Life of Swami Muktananda & the O Guru, Guru, Guru articles? I’m attaching copies of each in case you haven’t read them in a while. How did you and do you come to terms with the abuse? There is a web site called, Leaving Siddha Yoga; Searching for the Truth ( http://www.cyberpass.net/truth ) that is focused on dealing with the problems of SY, past and present. A copy of this letter is being posted there. Looking forward to your response, Pendragon |
Received 3 Mar 97:Dear Pendragon, Your email appeared today to someone named Charles. Are you perhaps looking for Master Charles? There is no Charles here. Please clarify. Sincerely, Kirsten McFadden (“J.B.”) |
Sent 3 Mar 97:Dear JB, Well yes, in fact I did mean Master Charles. I thought that was obvious from my email. Apologies for not being clear enough for you. Could you please pass it on? Thanks in advance, Pendragon |
Received 5 Mar 97:To: Pendragon Thank you for your clarification. I have conveyed your communication to Master Charles. He has asked that I respond to you on his behalf. Master Charles (formerly Swami Vivekananda) left Siddha Foundation shortly after Muktananda’s death in 1982. He has neither had contact since that time nor is he affiliated in any way. His story is detailed in his new book, “The Bliss of Freedom, A Contemporary Mystic’s Enlightening Journey” (Publication release date: March 6, 1997 by Acacia Publishing Company). If you wish to know of his experience, it would be appropriate to read his book. I am sure that it will answer all the questions that you have addressed to him. Thank you for your communication. Sincerely, J.B. McFadden |
Received 26 Mar 97:To: Pendragon Dear Pendragon, It has been brought to my attention that your latest update to the “Leaving Siddha Yoga” Web page (March 21) includes a reproduction of your email correspondence to Master Charles and to myself at Synchronicity Foundation. Speaking for myself, I am a little surprised that an experienced Webmaster like yourself omitted to follow the appropriate Netiquette of asking my consent prior to publicly posting what I believed was my personal correspondence to you. I would have agreed to the posting, but prefer that my consent be obtained in advance. Similarly, an excerpt from Master Charles’ spiritual autobiography “The Bliss of Freedom” has been reproduced on the same Web site. Master Charles does not personally object to the reprinting of his work, even though the limited excerpt you have posted is not representative of the tenor of the book as a whole. However, perhaps you are not aware that neither Master Charles nor Synchronicity Foundation are the publishers, and are therefore not in a position to grant permission to use excerpts from the book, even if you had asked to do so. As is clearly stated on the back of the title page of “The Bliss of Freedom,” permission to reproduce excerpts from the book by any means (including electronic) needs to be obtained in writing from the publisher, Acacia Publishing. They can be contacted at 23852 Pacific Coast Highway, Suite #736, Malibu, CA 90265. Their telephone and fax number is (310) 457 1718. The contact person would be Alanna Tarkington. She may also be reached via email. Her email address is LanaT1@aol.com I am confident that Acacia Publishing would be open to a request to reproduce excerpts from the book on the Internet. Given that “The Bliss of Freedom,” like all published material, is subject to the stringent laws of international copyright, you may wish to withdraw the extract from your Web page until such written permission can be obtained. I wish you well in your ongoing journey. Sincerely, J.B. McFadden |
Sent 30 Mar 97:J.B. McFadden, Well, actually I am a bit surprised as well at your response. If you remember, in my first email (3/2/97, “Do you feel any responsibility”) I stated, “There is a web site called, Leaving Siddha Yoga; Searching for the Truth ( http://www.cyberpass.net/truth ) that is focused on dealing with the problems of SY, past and present. A copy of this letter is being posted there.” Regarding the copyright issue, as noted on our site: “Copyrighted works are made available here under the ‘fair use’ exception of U.S. copyright law, for research and educational purposes only.” ( http://www.law.cornell.edu/usc/17/107.html ). As an educational service, this should explain why I do not need your publisher’s specific permission. Regarding my not representing the book written by Charles (AKA Swami Vivekananda), my purpose here is education about the problems in Siddha Yoga, past and present, NOT the representation of an ex swami, who still sees Muktananda as some kind of hero especially given the observed sexual misconduct of Muktananda. Thank you for your concerns. Pendragon |
Received 10 Apr 97:To: Pendragon Dear “Dragon”: Having observed your Web Page and directly experienced your communications, I am not surprised by your most recent response. I do, however, reiterate my surprise that an experienced Webmaster such as yourself (let’s face it, you’ve been beating your war drum on the Internet for some time now!) would continue to post my personal correspondence to you on a public web site without the mere courtesy of a request to do so… especially when your attention has been drawn to this already. So much, alas, for Netiquette. Please try to understand that, in my last message, I was merely trying to communicate in a friendly manner. The content of that letter was consistent with this – endeavoring to facilitate you by providing the address and contact numbers for Acacia Publishing. Since it seems that such friendly communication is not your intention or interest, I am sorry to have bothered you. I am neither an expert in copyright law, nor is it my position in this case to be so. I have passed your response on to the Acacia Publishing Company and they will address appropriate legal interpretations with you directly. I have observed your remarks about Master Charles and would like to remind you that they are simply your interpreted opinions. That you seek to impose them on others and validate them through consensus demonstrates how limited they are. Yet, everyone is entitled to their interpretations….. such is, to use a phrase of Master Charles’, “the diversity of unity.” The wise just watch, without limiting their experience through attachment to how things “should be.” But, there again, you are entitled to your own interpretations / opinions. Just as the Christians insist that the only way to God is through Jesus, and are both missionary and militant about it, so too do you insist that your opinion is right and everyone else is wrong. You are equally missionary and militant as any organized religion or religious organization. In taking the name Pendragon, you reveal your intention to be the “supreme war leader”: yet your ideological crusade could easily be mistaken for a long and windy war of words. The bottom line is: it is all interpretation and concept….. you are what you believe. Just be aware that there are a great many people, myself included, who do not subscribe to your particular data madness (for all data is madness). In the same way, there are many who do not subscribe to Christianity or other religions or religious organizations, considering them to be limited interpretations and consensus opinions. Not everyone is interested in investing in missionary, militant and abusive dogmas, data or interpretations of any kind. Further, in your web page postings, you have manipulated Master Charles’ writing to your own ends. You have projected your biased interpretation onto what he has written and slanted it to validate your particular position. You have editorialized him to fit your own agenda. Master Charles did not observe any “sexual misconduct” on the part of Muktananda. That is quite simply your own biased and projected opinion. If you were truthful, you would have printed all that he wrote about Muktananda and love, sex and Source. In reading the book, it is clear that he never described in detail what the “sexual intimacy” was in which he thought he saw Muktananda and one of his female disciples engaged. He never said it was rape or even full sexual intercourse between an adult and an underage juvenile. He simply said he witnessed Muktananda seemingly in sexual intimacy with one of his disciples, and thereafter said that there was nothing sexual about it. This is a seeming paradox, but you did not even ask what he meant. Perhaps you did not even notice the finer semantics of this passage in the book, to which I have just now drawn your attention. Rather, you projected your limited interpretation upon merely part of what he wrote and tried to use his writing to validate your own obsessional ends. This is misrepresentation and fraud. It seems obvious that you have some very limited data regarding sex and Muktananda, yet it is only your opinion, because the foremost player, Muktananda, is no longer here to speak for himself. We are left, then, with just interpretations and endless commentary. How ironic that the Leaving Siddha Yoga web page should be subtitled “Searching for the Truth” when it offers merely opinions! Evidently, you never understood Muktananda’s message, which was to transcend opinions / interpretations, or meditate and transcend the mind to experience the truth that is forever beyond it. I wish you well in your search. Sincerely, J.B. McFadden P.S.: As you have some difficulty in remembering the first part of Master Charles’ name, referring to him only as “Charles,” I thought you may enjoy the reflection of this back to you through the equal shortening of your nom de plume to merely “Dragon.” If you care to consult the American Heritage Dictionary, you will find a dragon described as “A fiercely vigilant or intractable person.” How appropriate! |
Sent 19 Apr 97:Dear J.B. McFadden: As you are aware that I have been posting this email correspondence, why are you surprised that I have continued? Do you not remember my first email where I stated that a copy of my message to you was being posted at the web site? Seems to me you would have concluded that if I put up the question, I would put up your answer. I guess you didn’t bother to visit the site to see the purpose and nature of it. If you had, there should be no surprise. I did give you the address did I not? Actually, you should realize and perhaps you have not had much practice at this, but as the spokesperson for your boss, your words are considered public domain – net etiquette aside. As a public figure, Charles and his foundation are open to public view and discussion. Given you have a web site and have published a book and offer spiritual guidance and such, you should be prepared for this. By posting exactly what you say, rather does you a service; this way I won’t misinterpret anything you say. People will read it and come to their own conclusions. As to the “war drum”, yes, that is a good description. We are giving warning to others: beware. Siddha Yoga, past and present, is not what it appears to be. Regarding your concern about quoting a section from Charles’ book, again, I have researched the manner and quotes are considered permissible when used in certain ways. Again, I did give you the reference for that and will be happy to discuss it with the publishers. (To date, there has been no word from them). What does any of this have to do with being friends? Rather, as I see it, we hold differing points of view. Can we not discuss them? It seems that your beloved Charles (How could I ever call him “Master”? He is not my “master”. Just because he is yours why do you persist in my accepting as such?) has provided further proof that Muktananda was having sex with devotees. As HE said, “What I saw stopped me cold in my tracks, and the bottom fell right out of my stomach – right out of my whole life. For there was Muktananda engaged in mutual sexual intimacy with one of his female assistants. I became absolutely still and silent. I was in shock.” So if Muktananda wasn’t having sex, then what? Are you going to debate what kind of sex he was having? I think not. You say that since Muktananda isn’t here, we really don’t know what happened? Are you saying you don’t trust that Charles saw him being sexual? You don’t trust the other reports from teens and adults alike that they were involved in sexual contact with Muktananda? That some of those teens were clearly upset by this? That Muktananda himself and SYDA contends that no sex ever took place? Hmmm what’s the real issue here? If there was some sort of tantric sex, why didn’t he just say so? Rather cover it up and lie about it. Who are we trying to protect? The mainstream devotee who won’t understand or the “Guru” who is taking advantage of his position? But for you to see it as that would never happen because than it would show that what Charles’s interpretation and bias is just that – designed to help him keep his own view of the world intact. You see, if Charles had labeled it as “sexual misconduct” he could not lay claim to Muktananda’s grace now could he? You really don’t need to remind me that what I say is my opinion. Of course it is. You do live in a country where opinion is respected and permitted do you not? Or perhaps you have given up your opinion, your own sense of your self, for someone else’s? How am I “imposing” my words on others? (I do believe people have the freedom to either read or not read what is at the web site.) Perhaps you feel “imposed” upon? Maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe what is being said at this site (have you read it ALL? from all the others who have left SY for the variety of reasons?) is too difficult to deal with. You see, it is the truth – for the person who wrote it. For each person who was abused, lied to and controlled by Muktananda and his appointed followers and the teachers who worked for them, such as Charles; their truth is represented here. That you and others would disagree, is no surprise. Pendragon |
Received 24 Apr 97:
To: Pendragon Dear Dragon, Do you know the French expression “the more it changes, the more it remains the same”? You just continue to manipulate and distort what I am saying, and project your fraudulent, limited data upon me. I do, however, congratulate you on your egalitarianism! In addition to this consistent demonstration with me, I have also observed that your Web page responses are the same to everyone – they are just a manipulated and distorted interpretation, guaranteed to be biased to your own warped and limited belief system. Boring… Obviously, there is no point in any further communication with you. No fruitful exchange can take place until you are ready to emerge from the reinforced facade of your own particular dogma. I have no interest in subscribing to your angry madness. I wish you well in your ongoing search for Truth. Sincerely, J.B. McFadden |
Received 21 Aug 97:
To: Pendragon Pendragon: Over the last months, I have been contacted here at Synchronicity Foundation by a number of people who saw my correspondence with you, as posted on the “Leaving Siddha Yoga” website. Interestingly, several of these people shared with me what they had sent to you in various emails, none of which you finally posted. It seems most curious that your web page publishes numerous letters merely asking for a copy of the “New Yorker” article by Lis Harris, yet fails to publicly share other more substantial communications. Could this be because the writers do not fully kowtow to your own particular viewpoint about SYDA? The first impression of the site given to newcomers is that of an open forum, welcoming all who wish to share their experiences. Yet, do readers really know that you wield the censor’s razor, only posting what supports your viewpoint? Were your intention truthful exchange and growth, perhaps the website would include a wider range of letters and perspectives… not a mere faded echo of your own prejudices. For the record, you are most welcome to post this current email! Sincerely, J.B. McFadden |