We recently received a forwarded email thread that contained a dialogue between the Mount Eliza Ashram (now calling itself the Sri Nityananda Ashram) and a member of the public that concluded with the following response to their enquiry :

“Perhaps you have received some misinformation about Mahamandaleshwar Swami Shankarananda.

Swamiji and his community were the victims of a vicious smear campaign last year. Many people became very confused and hurt in the process. Thankfully, Swamiji and his ashram have survived and his spiritual community is thriving.

Please let me know if you need any more information.”

To be telling members of the public that what happened at the Mount Eliza Ashram was the result of a “vicious smear campaign” is dishonest and deceptive. If this were the case, then how do they account for their two “letters to the community” seen here, in which Kruckman laments the “disastrous effects” of his “tantric activities” (a dishonest claim in itself which we discuss in-depth here)? How do they account for the many support groups offered by Integrative Psychology in Melbourne specifically for ex-members? The extensive involvement of CASA (Centre Against Sexual Assault) and the police investigation that ensued, or the legal case currently ongoing?

Their own mismanagement of the situation resulted in the loss of many long-term members of the community, garnered the interest of the national and international media and ultimately resulted in the liquidation of Shiva Yoga Inc. Obviously their policy remains unchanged; they continue to whitewash and lie to the uninformed, as evidenced by the email above.