Swāmī Rāma was born Brij Kiśore Dhasmana or Brij Kiśore Kumar, to a northern Indian
BrahminBrahmin Brahman, Brahma and Brahmin.Brahman, Brahmin and Brahma have different meanings. Brahman refers to the Supreme Self...
family in a small village called Toli in the Garhwal Himalayas. He became the lineage holder of the Sankya
YogaYoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual discipline, originating in ancient India. The goal of yoga, or of the person practicing yoga, is the attainment of a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquility while meditating on Supersoul...
tradition of the
HimalayanThe Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...
Masters. From an early age he was raised in the Himalayas by his master
Bengali Baba and, under the guidance of his master, traveled from temple to temple and studied with a variety of Himalayan saints and sages, including his grandmaster, who was living in a remote region of Tibet. From 1949 to 1952 he held the prestigious position of Shankaracharya of Karvirpitham (also Karveer Peeth or Karweer Peeth) in South India. After returning to his master in 1952 and practising further for many years in the Himalayan caves, Swami Rama was encouraged by his teacher to go to the West, where he spent a considerable portion of his life teaching, specifically in the United States and
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
.
He is especially notable as one of the first yogis to allow himself to be studied by Western scientists. In the 1960s he allowed himself to be examined by scientists at the Menninger Clinic who studied his ability to voluntarily control bodily processes (such as heartbeat, blood pressure, body temperature, etc.) that are normally considered to be non-voluntary (
autonomicThe autonomic nervous system is the part of the peripheral nervous system that acts as a control system functioning largely below the level of consciousness, and controls visceral functions. The ANS affects heart rate, digestion, respiration rate, salivation, perspiration, diameter of the pupils,...
).
First ashram
After leaving the post of Shankaracharya and going back to the master, he afterwards travelled to
NepalNepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
in the
HimalayasThe Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...
barefoot with nothing but a kamandalu and tiger mat. It was here he created his first
ashramTraditionally, an ashram is a spiritual hermitage. Additionally, today the term ashram often denotes a locus of Indian cultural activity such as yoga, music study or religious instruction, the moral equivalent of a studio or dojo....
. It is at the outskirts of
Kathmandu on the way to Dulikhel on the mountain of Janagal. He later granted it to Swami Vishuddha Dev. The ashram is known as Hansada Yoga Ashram. Now it is the headquarters of the Characterlogy movement. However, other programs are also conducted there.
Organization and achievements
He was the founder of the
Himalayan Institute of Yoga Science and PhilosophyThe Himalayan Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy was founded by Swami Rama of the Himalayas in 1971. The headquarters and main campus is located on in the Pocono Mountains of northeastern Pennsylvania, with branches distributed around the globe including Cameroon, India, Great Britain,...
, which has its headquarters in Honesdale,
PAThe Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, and branches in the USA,
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, and
IndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. Swami Rama also founded other teaching and service organizations, some of which are linked below. One of his significant achievements is the establishment of a large medical facility in the northeastern part of India (Dehradun) to serve millions of poor people in the nearby mountains. Until about 15 years ago the rural poor in this region did not have access to health care, water, sanitation, and education. Dedicated disciples of Swami Rama have contributed to make his dream of a region free of poverty come true. Stories of his leadership style and the way he achieved his goals are documented in several books about Swami Rama.
Swami Rama demonstrated the impact of holistic health approaches on the Dehradun campus. On that campus he also established a medical university with his most senior disciple
Swami Veda BharatiSwami Veda Bharati was born into a Sanskrit speaking family and raised in the centuries-old Sanskrit tradition. From age of nine he has captivated audiences with the depth of his knowledge and intuition in the Vedas and Patanjali's Yoga Sutras. He holds an M.A. from the University of London and...
(holding a Ph.D. from The Netherlands) being the Chancellor, Vijay Dhasmana as the Vice-Chancellor, and one of his most development orientated disciples—Ms. B. Maithili (Director of the Rural Development Institute)—as the Registrar.
Swami Rama authored several books in which he describes the path he took to becoming a yogi and lays out the philosophy and benefits behind practices such as meditation. One of the common themes expressed in such books as
Enlightenment Without God and
Living with the Himalayan Masters is the ability of any person to achieve peace without the need for a structured religion. He was critical of the tendency for yogis to use supernatural feats to demonstrate their enlightenment, arguing that these only demonstrated the ability to perform a feat.
Children
Swami Rama is reportedly survived by one daughter and two sons. Two of these children have been acknowledged in "At the Eleventh Hour," a biography of Swami Rama written by the current spiritual leader of the Himalayan Institute of the USA, Pandit Rajmani Tigunait (see also Tigunait's 2001 interview with Yoga Chicago). These children are his son, Mohit Kumar (or Mohit Dhasmana), and daughter, Devyani Mungali, by his former wife in India, Lilu Kumar, whom he married after leaving the post of Shankaracharya. Lilu and Mohit Kumar have been involved in several lawsuits in India (notably Original Suit No. 865 of 1997 filed in The Court of the Civil Judge, Senior Division, Dehradun), challenging the current leaders of the Himalayan Institute Hospital Trust, founded by Swami Rama.
Robert Walter, an American registered securities broker, claims to be the younger son of Swami Rama. He and his mother, Shirley Walter, plan to publish a double memoir of their relationships with Swami Rama and their involvement with the Himalayan Institute, "Son of a Swami: A Life of Lies." Shirley Walter was a founding director of the Himalayan Institute USA, according to the original incorporation papers filed with the Illinois Secretary of State. Her yoga center became Swami Rama's first base of operations in the United States (also described in "At the Eleventh Hour" by Tigunait).
Another woman, Miranda Marbaniang of Shillong, claims she is Swami Rama's oldest daughter.
Swami Rama's followers have not acknowledged either Robert Walter or Miranda Marbaniang as the guru's children, as he was supposed to have taken vows of celibacy.
Sexual misconduct controversy
On September 4, 1997 in the United District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania a jury returned an award against the defendant Himalayan International Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy of the U.S.A. (“Himalayan Institute”) in the amount of $275,000 in compensatory damages and $1.6 million in punitive damages for the sexual misconduct of the Himalayan Institute's former “spiritual leader,” Brijkishor Kumar, popularly known as the “Swami Rama.” Answering special verdict questions, the jury found that Swami Rama (a) had engaged in sexual relations with the plaintiff who was 19 years old at the time of the sexual abuse; (b) had abused his position as the plaintiff's guru to secure her consent to the sexual relations; ( c) had breached the standard of care and fiduciary duties inherent in the relationship between him and the plaintiff; (d) had intentionally inflicted emotional distress on the plaintiff; (e) had acted maliciously and with conscious disregard for the welfare of the plaintiff; (f) and was acting within the scope of his agency relationship with the Himalayan Institute when engaging in sexual relations with Patel. In addition to holding the Himalayan Institute liable for compensatory and punitive damages on a respondent superior theory, the jury also imposed direct liability on the Institute, finding that (a) it had been negligent in allowing Swami Rama to be a sexual predator for a number of years; (b) the actions and inactions of Himalayan Institute constituted the intentional infliction of emotional distress; and (c) the Himalayan Institute had acted maliciously and with conscious disregard for the welfare of the plaintiff.
Swami Rama, in relation to accusations made against him while alive, said "As a swami , I have taken a vow not to defend myself, Those saying negative things are my students, my spiritual children...I promised my sages that I would serve these students until they reach their final goal. And now for such a trival reason, I should abandon them? ...My master's mission will be crippled and I will be responsible for that...Divine will supersedes all human plans and endeavors..."
Selected bibliography
Books by Swami Rama
- Enlightenment Without God (Mandukya Upanishad) (ISBN 0893890847)
- Living with the Himalayan Masters (ISBN 0893891568)
- The Science of Breath: A Practical Guide (ISBN 089389057X)
- Meditation and its Practice (ISBN 0893891533)
- Freedom from the Bondage of Karma (ISBN 0893890316)
- Spiritual Journey
- "Yoga & Psychotherapy " (ISBN 13:9780893890360)
- " Perennial Psychology of the Bhagavad Gita" (ISBN 0893890901)
- "Sukhamani Sahib:Fountain of Eternal Joy " (ISBN 089389110X )
- " Book of Wisdom :ISHOPANISHAD " (ISBN 0893890030)
- "Wisdom of the ancient sages : Mundaka Upanishad (ISBN 0893891207)
- " The art of Joyful Living " (ISBN 089389236X)
- " The Royal path :Practical lessons on Yoga "(ISBN 0893891525)
- " Path of Fire and Light volume 2 " (ISBN 0893891126)
- " A Practical Guide to Holistic Health " (ISBN 0893891746)
- " Japji : Meditation in Sikhism " (ISBN 089389107X)
- "Spirituality Transformation within & without " (ISBN 0893891509)
- "Life Here and Hereafter (Kathopanishad) " (ISBN 0893890022)
- "Choosing a Path " (ISBN 0893890774 )
- "Love and family Life "(ISBN 0893891339)
- " Valmiki Ramayana Retold in verse vols I and II "
- "Love Whispers " (ISBN 0893891789)
- "Celestial Song / GoBind Geet " (ISBN 0893891037)
- "Path of Fire and Light volume 1 " (ISBN 0893890979)
- "Sacred Journey " (ISBN 8176210900)
- "Sadhana :The Essence of Spiritual Life " (ISBN 8176210943)
- "OM :The Eternal witness " (ISBN 9788188157433)
- "Exercises for Joints & Glands " (ISBN 10:0893890839)
- "Conscious Living " (ISBN 8188157031)
Biographies
- At the Eleventh Hour: The Biography of Swami Rama, by Pandit Rajmani Tigunait (ISBN 0893892122)
- Walking with a Himalayan Master: An American's Odyssey, by Justin O'Brien (ISBN 0936663197)
- "At the feet of a Himalayan Master :Remembering Swami Rama vol 1 by Dr Prakash Keshaviah "(ISBN 9788188157624)
- "At the feet of a Himalayan Master :Remembering Swami Rama vol 2 by Dr Prakash "(ISBN 9788188157662)
- "A Multi Splendoured Sage :His holiness Dr Swami Rama of the Himalayas by K S Duggal "
- " Swami Rama of the Himalayas :His Life & Mission by Pandit Rajmani Tigunait (ISBN 0893891495)
- "Swami : by Doug Boyd "(ISBN 0893891428)
Other works
- Science Year: The World Book Science Annual—1974, describing scientific research done on Swami Rama
- Nature Science Annual, pages 103–110, Article of Gerald Jones, describing scientific research done on Swami Rama
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External links