Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 14, No. 1, 1997, page 60
The Last American Chapter
In 1977 Louis acquired enough money to purchase a 400-acre retreat in northern California.
We moved the ashram to the country. There were many more volunteers, many more
people visiting, and the daily programs were becoming more and more of a production. He
assigned me as director of the facility. I was good at it. I liked the job and I liked the
people, most of whom were completely unaware of the duplicity inherent in Louis‟s
teachings and the behavior of his close disciples. I continued to block out the sexual orgies
that happened frequently. I blinded myself to the night-time wanderings of the inner group.
Louis and I had continual disagreements about the inner teachings. He claimed I was
unworthy to understand and be able to participate. I accepted this.
In order to remain part of the group and to keep my sanity, I decided to marry a man who
was also a close student of Louis‟s. Louis had matched me with him. I felt that marriage was
my only option because in the typical tradition of marriage, there was to be no meditation,
that is, no sex with other people. I could live in the ashram and follow the outer teachings.
In a way my marriage was a last resort, a final attempt at coping with the situation.
The man I married seemed to be willing to be monogamous and wanted a family. In my
heart I hoped that marrying him would save me from the duplicity into which I had spiraled.
As it turned out, my husband was as enmeshed in the subservience expected of Louis‟s
students as I was. He married his guru‟s woman he had the prize. I was a used possession,
being passed to an honor student. We continued to live in the ashram and work for Louis.
We were dependent on Louis for our livelihood. We received room and board and $150 per
month.
What I didn‟t realize was that marriage had no sanctity for the guru. Soon after the
marriage, Louis suddenly decided that in fact married people could meditate. It was not long
before he was asking my husband whether he was willing to help his spiritual father by
allowing his wife to meditate with him. My husband also could not say no to his guru. I felt
my life being torn again. The relationship between me and my teacher was not based on
either sex or religion, but on a sick misuse of power.
About this time one of the women involved in Louis‟s inner circle (an 18-year-old) had a
nervous breakdown and spent time in a psychiatric hospital. She was able to speak about
the abuse in the group, and as a result some of the secrets were revealed to the general
public. The effect rippled throughout the community of 150 people, splitting it wide open.
Louis took emergency actions and drew the inner circle tight. “We must uphold the 7,000-
year-old secret,” he proclaimed. “We have to protect yoga.” All of us, except a few, did as
told. We denied it all. We put the responsibility on the woman who had the breakdown. We
were upholding the Truth, the Eternal Way of Life. We were protecting the basic system of
“evolution.” It was not a lie. It was a yogic secret. Although some people left, many stayed
and believed their teacher and their teacher‟s closest students. Despite our cover-up, the
fallout from the exposure damaged the community feeling. It was falling apart.
During this time Louis became extremely paranoid. He trusted no one and feared for his life.
He convinced most of us that we must leave for a safer place. He was afraid that the large
property that we had just acquired would be confiscated. He was afraid he would be
persecuted, much like Jesus. The land in California was put up for sale. Louis was on the
move to a safer place. The community had been put together by all of us. It was to be a
new life for us. We had worked hard to raise funds and renovate the buildings. Many people
lived on the property and had planned their lives around the community. Suddenly it was
over. The church was to be abolished. The funds went into Louis‟s pockets. Most of the
people did not hear from Louis again. It was a hard time for many. Louis would only take a
few with him. My husband and I were among the chosen.

Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 14, No. 1, 1997, page 61
The destination was Australia. In the meantime we lived in Hawaii working on instructional
manuals. Louis soon had a group of women living around him. My husband and I tried to
live a semi-normal existence alongside the group. We had a baby. We did not participate in
the multisexual partners, but we knew it was happening and that fact began to erode an
already precarious relationship. Louis continued to pursue me, but now I had a small child
and so Louis began to lose interest in me sexually. But he used my competence and my
belief in the outer teachings, just as he used my and my husband‟s capacities to keep
students and to make money. We made money on his behalf and gave it all to him.
The property in California sold, and as the ashram‟s director, I handed the check for
$400,000 to Louis, as I had been instructed by him. At this same time I was expelled from
the Board of Directors, a move that allowed Louis to take complete control of the money
and a Board of Directors entirely devoted to him. He began to actively pursue the flight to
Australia. My husband worked long hours convincing the Australian government to allow us
to immigrate there. My husband and I were readily accepted, while Louis was not. The
Australian government had received a letter from a former student about the abuse
charges.
Meanwhile, I was becoming more and more involved in family life. My son was 1 year old.
Although the arranged relationship with my husband was strained and there was much
discontent, we had a family and our energy went into the family and into building our new
life in Australia. We moved to South Australia in 1984. I was secretly pleased that Louis
would not be allowed into Australia. I felt I could live there and lead a life based on the
more ethical philosophies that I had learned.
Louis was finally admitted to Australia in 1985. He chose to live as a hermit in a remote
area. My husband and I and our son lived about 2,000 miles away. Louis had his money and
was leaving us alone. We were slowly making money on our own. We decided to live in a
community of Louis‟s students who had not been involved in his inner teachings. These
were people with families, people who wanted to live a good life. I began to experience
relief and freedom from the years of suffering in California. I was not aware that Louis was
heading for broke as he had used up the $400,000 of church funds on bad stock market
dealings and frivolous spending (first-class air travel, first-class hotels, etc.). One day my
husband received a call from Louis asking if he could come to South Australia. Would we in
the community take care of him? My husband said yes. I think I would not have been able
to say no either, but I was not happy.
Recreating the System
Louis arrived in the South Australian community under the condition that he agree not to do
in the new community what he had done in California. He agreed not to have sex with his
female parishioners. He promised, and we believed him. Slowly he built up a life in the new
community in which he began to exert tremendous control. Louis began with weekly Sunday
meetings and individual classes and therapy sessions. The community began to revolve
around him and his teachings rather than around people‟s lives. He instructed people on
how to have and raise their children. He reproached people about their personal lives. He
shamed them into getting rid of their televisions, stopping outside recreation, taking their
children out of the public schools and putting them into home schooling. He began to
categorize people into the more evolved and the less evolved. The propensity to misuse his
position, to pit people against each other, to solicit funds in the name of the church began
to take hold once again.
By 1989 he had a group of women and men around him who once again believed what he
taught about meditation and sexual energy. He was starting the inner circle over again, this
time with families. Now the people getting involved had children and much more to lose.