Integral Yoga/Yogaville Cult
dorwo...@yahoo.com
Yoga on the Internet, a simple visit to yogaville.com,
integralyoga.com or other obvious Web addresses could direct Web
surfers to information that leaders within the Buckingham County
commune do not want people to see.
Those Web sites divert visitors to a third-party site that contains
disparaging information about Yogaville, its former spiritual leader
and the 750-acre Satchidananda Ashram in Central Virginia serving as
headquarters for Integral Yoga International.
Matthew Cheng, the site's creator, says that Yogaville is a cult and
that the site simply contains a warning about techniques the institute
uses to recruit and retain members.
Yogaville's attorneys said that Cheng has no legitimate business use
or need for the names Yogaville or Integral Yoga and that Cheng's use
of the names infringes on the institute's trademarks. In effect, the
institute wanted Cheng's Web site shut down. Both parties agreed to
settle the matter in arbitration.
A recent decision by a National Arbitration Forum panel has ruled that
Cheng has a legitimate, noncommercial and fair interest in the domain
names at issue and that Cheng did not register the domain names in bad
faith. Further, it ruled that Cheng's Web sites are protected under
his First Amendment right to free speech.
The panel noted that to find in favor of Yogaville would 'radically
undermine freedom of discourse on the Internet and would undercut the
free and orderly exchange of ideas that the policy seeks to promote.'
The official Web site for the organization can be found at
www.yogaville.org.
Yogaville spokeswoman Swami Karunananda said it would be difficult to
measure the impact Cheng's Web site would have on would-be IYI members
or visitors to the ashram.
'It's sort of misleading to the people who are looking for information
about us. … I really can't comment on how damaging it is, but the
decision is certainly not one we would have hoped for,' Karunananda
said.
As for being called a cult, Karunananda said the definition of a cult
is not always clear. She added that all that is expected of the 150
locals associated with Yogaville and of the 'thousands' of visitors
every year is a vegetarian diet and no smoking, drinking or drug use.
'As far as I know, there are a lot of different ways to define a
cult,' she said. 'We're a totally open community. People can come and
go as they please. There are no special requirements of people except
for the basic yoga guidelines.'
Cheng's real interest in Yogaville lies with his sister, Catherine, a
current resident of the commune. Much of the Web site includes
information about Catherine Cheng's experience at Yogaville.
According to the Cheng family, who agreed to communicate for this
story only through e-mail, a short trip to the ashram completely
changed Catherine from an outgoing, fun-loving law student with a
boyfriend and a loving family to a withdrawn, submissive robot,
engaged to a man nearly 30 years her senior.
In December 1998, Catherine, then 23, went to Yogaville from New York
over winter break on a yoga training scholarship. At first, the
sabbatical was uneventful, the family said. Catherine called her
family to let them know she was all right and that she would return to
school in January. But by the time she was supposed to return,
Catherine called to tell her parents that she would stay at Yogaville
and marry a 50-year-old man who lived there named Swami Atmananda, a
lawyer also known as Larry Gross.
Shortly after receiving the news, Catherine's father and brother went
to Yogaville to see Catherine. They said they arrived to find a much-
changed woman. Officials at the commune told the men Catherine feared
them. According to the Chengs, after two days, father and brother were
forced to leave the compound.
Soon afterward, Catherine Cheng wrote letters to her law school
boyfriend to break off their relationship, to her friends to tell them
that she had chosen a new Hindi name, Meenakshi, and to her father
asking him to bless her upcoming marriage to the swami.
By February 1999, Catherine Cheng was completely estranged from her
family. The next month she married Gross. And Matthew created his Web
site.
For three years, the Cheng family has maintained the Web site, which
also includes links to stories detailing sexual assault allegations
involving Yogaville's now-deceased spiritual leader, Sri Swami
Satchidananda Majaraj. The swami denied the allegations before his
death in August 2002. Satchidananda was remembered by most for opening
the Woodstock festival in 1969 and for his teachings of peace that
drew comparisons to Mother Teresa and Nelson Mandela.
Catherine and her husband, now known as Sundaram, still live at
Yogaville. Sundaram continues to handle legal matters for Yogaville
and its interests, according to the Chengs. Meenakshi is a certified
Integral Yoga hatha teacher and conducts classes in Buckingham.
'We believe this case is an important victory for everyone's right to
free speech and will help other families in similar situations,' the
Cheng family wrote. 'It is an affirmation for the Web site that
contains factual information that the group wants to keep secret -
sexual abuse of nearly a dozen women, the organization shrinking by
one-third since the accusations and despite the peace and tranquility
the group preaches, it has sought to silence its critics by
discrediting them, legal threats and lawsuits. In these ways, this
decision helps all families and victims.' " (Liesel Nowak, Daily
Progress, January 27, 2003)