Thursday, December 11, 2014

Children were raped, beaten and drugged at Mangrove Yoga Ashram, say victims at Royal Commission into child sexual abuse


Site of shocking sexual and physical abuse: Mangrove Yoga Ashram.
Site of shocking sexual and physical abuse: Mangrove Yoga Ashram. Source: Facebook
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
IN the foothills of Mangrove Mountain, some went in search of peace at a yoga ashram, instead their children were drugged, raped and beaten.
Disturbing details have been revealed of the abuse suffered by children in the 1970s and 80s at a Royal Commission into child sexual abuse at the Mangrove Yoga Ashram on the NSW Central Coast.
The ashram north of Sydney was founded by a disciple of the Indian guru who established the Satyananda Yoga movement, which helped spread the practice around the world.
The commission has heard from nine witnesses, including an account last week from one victim who was stripped naked when she was seven years old and held down while the skin between her breasts was cut by a swami. He then licked the blood and had intercourse with her during an initiation ceremony.
Some of the most shocking testimony has come from the “handmaiden” of the abusive yoga master and spiritual leader Swami Akhandananda.
Shishy, who had legal guardianship of children at the retreat in the 1980s, was completely controlled by Swami Akhandananda, bringing young girls to the swami for sexual initiation, which she believed was for their “spiritual growth”.
Former child residents claimed that Shishy, who was second-in-charge at the ashram, slapped them so hard it affected their hearing and eyesight and on one occasion the force slammed their heads against a wall.
On Monday she denied this but admitted she did slap children and brought young girls to the swami for sexual initiation, which she believed was for their “spiritual growth”.
READ MORE:http://www.news.com.au/national/children-were-raped-beaten-and-drugged-at-mangrove-yoga-ashram-say-victims-at-royal-commission-into-child-sexual-abuse/story-fncynjr2-1227151800583

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