A 16-year-old Alison performing a dance for the guru in the Los Angles center of her parents’ spiritual organization, called ISDL at the time, and later called Jagadguru Kripalu Parishad. Young girls were always encouraged to dance for the guru, a man called Swami Prakashanand Saraswati.
When Alison D. was a teenager, her parents would occasionally take her with them to prayer meetings (called satsang) at their spiritual organization, which was in a large home in the hills surrounding Los Angeles. At that time (late 1980s), the organization was called the International Society of Divine Love. Its leader was a Hindu swami going by the name Prakashanand Saraswati. (The organization is now a USA subsidiary of an India-based organization called Jagadguru Kripalu Parishat.)
They would take her with them, especially when the guru was in residence. The event would include a Hindu-style devotion and prayer with chanting, and a video of the guru speaking. Eventually, toward the very end of the satsang gathering, the swami would join them to give a short speech or just chit chat with the attendees.
Afterwards, the Swami would return to his bedroom. As the devotees mingled, one or two at a time would file to say goodnight.
Some people would be summoned up by the guru’s servant — like 16-year-old Alison. She was instructed by the Swami’s main servant, a woman called Ranjana at the time (later Vishwambhari), to go to his room and say “good-bye” to him — alone.
According to Alison, “I was taught that it was an honor to have the guru request to see you, especially privately.
“Ranjana always ushered me to his bedroom and then disappeared, leaving me all alone with him. I was so uncomfortable. I would have to sit on the floor next to his bed and look up at him, not knowing what to say. After a minute or two of chitchat, he would sit up on the edge of the bed and lean toward me. He would pull me in for a sloppy kiss on the lips and grope my 16-year-old body under my shirt.
“When he reached in to kiss me on the lips and touch me inappropriately, I would freeze. It was a devastating experience. I hated it. I thought he was old and gross. It made me feel terrible. I thought to myself, ‘There is no way this is right. This is not what spiritual people do.’
“But I also knew that my parents and all the devotees believed that you do exactly what the guru says, or else there would be negative consequences. To the devotees, he was a saint who knew all. He even knew what we were thinking. All the devotees believed the swami was beyond human and that whatever he did was okay. If you don’t like something, you just keep your mouth shut and roll with it.
After at least three of these traumatizing experiences, Alison told her parents she did not want to go back to the center or anywhere near the guru. She did not tell them why, and they didn’t force her to go again.
“I was so young and naïve, I thought I was the only one. No other underage girl ever said anything about it to me about having this kind of experience with the guru. And I never said anything to anyone.
“I naively thought if I stopped going into his room, the whole thing would stop. From then on, I put it out of my mind. I just thought my parents were crazy for continuing to follow that man.”
Over two decades passed before Alison learned the truth. During covid, her mother was planning to go to the Los Angeles center to attend an event. Alison wanted to know what the covid precautions were. She googled ISDL, the organization’s former name.
“Suddenly, all these articles popped up about the guru’s child sexual abuse arrest and trial, his conviction, and his escape from justice. I was in shock to learn that what I experienced and worse had been going on all along and with many young girls.
“I immediately confronted my mother. She gave me the party line, saying that the girls were lying. That it never happened. That the girls were lying. That the girls were retaliating for some alleged slight against their parents, who were also hardcore devotees, along with their stepsister, Prabhakari Devi, and brother.
I said, “Mom, they were not lying. I know because it happened to me too.
“Thank god, she immediately believed me. However, she was at first in shock, then angry, then devastated and heartbroken. She said she knew nothing about this during her many years as a staunch devotee in the organization.
“However, now my mother, late in her life, believes she had been on the wrong path all those years. She believes she did wrong and feels bad. She cannot believe that she had put her own daughter in harm’s way just for some ‘guru.’ She now feels stupid for falling for the cult con game.”
Alison was angry, too. She wanted to get a lawyer. She wished she had known about the trial because she would have spoken out, too.
But then reality set in, according to Alison. She knew there are devotees who are very, very rich and will defend the Swami to the bitter end. Devotees like Peter Spiegel and Katie Williams, who are multi-millionaires and who funded lavish temple constructions around the world. (JKP never had such access to so much wealth before they and Marsha Kent started infomercial businesses.)
The pain is still there after all these years for Alison. Although she supports her now, her mother may occasionally mention JKP or one of the devotees. But Alison makes it clear that she doesn’t want to hear about any of it.
Alison has sought professional therapy to help deal with the pain of years of betrayal brought on by her parents being such hardcore devotees of her abuser. (Her father died years ago while still being a fully devoted devotee.)
At her daughter’s request, her mother has backed out of this organization, and removed all photos, books, and paraphernalia related to it from her home, although she still likes the Hindu religion. Just not this organization, which has facilitated the molestation and rape of young girls for decades.
Today, Alison realizes that, like so many others, her parents were brainwashed. They fell for the stock threat that if they didn’t follow the guru’s instructions, they would not gain entrance to Divine Vrindaban, a kind of Hindu heaven.
In the cult, we were taught that we need the guru’s grace to gain entrance into this magical divine world. It was the proverbial carrot on the stick that kept us all glued to a man who claimed to be a saint but who was actually a prolific sinner.
The brainwashing was so strong that devotees were often left in the position of choosing the swami over their family. This made children particularly vulnerable. It’s not just the girls who have been abused, but also the male children.
I have received messages from male children as well who have suffered because their parents chose the organization and the swami over them.
“What I saw over the years is that so many adults were so enamored or even in love with this person,” said Alison. “They lost their ability to think rationally. They didn’t take responsibility for their own children’s wellbeing.
“Even if they think they are helping their children go further on their soul journey, they are grossly being misguided spiritually in this JKP organization. Decent spiritual leaders do not molest children. Period.
“While usually the decisions parents in this organization make come from a place of love, the swamis and other leaders in the organization are scaring them into doing things that are not in the children’s best interest. They want them to do what is in their own best interest — and to hell with everyone else. The parents oblige, but at what cost to their children?
“I have been wanting to share my experience because I want the truth out there,” said Alison. “I never lived in the ashram. But the older devotees in that organization know me—people like Peter, Katie, Carla, Michael, Jennifer, and many others. I don’t know if they will read this story — or if they are even allowed to ready anything critical of their guru.
“If I could speak to them, I would say, ‘Use your mind before getting involved with this scam, which I’ve since learned has even worse secrets about child rape by the other swami in India. If you doubt the victims, realize that JKP has millions of reasons to lie. The victims have none.’
“I want whoever does read this to know one thing for sure: The girls involved in the swami’s trial were telling the truth about being molested by Swami Prakashanand Saraswati. I know because I was one of them!”
