Leaving Nityananda Institute: Help, Support, Resources

Leaving Nityananda Institute

Leaving Nityananda Institute is compiled and managed by former members of the Nityananda Institute and their families and friends. Across the years, former students of Swami Chetanananda (SC), Abbot of the Nityananda Institute and Rudrananda Ashram, have helped one another recover from various levels of betrayal and abuse sustained while inside the Nityananda Institute and in the process of leaving that group.

Swami Chetanananda teaches that it is wrong to break connections with the guru. He ridicules, denounces and threatens students who leave him and speak openly about their experiences with him. Even so, more than seventy members of the Institute severed their connections to Swami Chetanananda between 1994 and 2000. This constitutes nearly half of the average active membership of the group.

As more and more former Institute members came together for group discussions and shared experiences, our fear levels dropped and healing accelerated. Word spread to other ex-members around the country increasing the need for a widespread and organized healing forum.

We hope that Leaving Nityananda Institute will serve as a helpful resource to: all ex-Institute members and their families and friends; concerned relatives and friends of current Nityananda Institute members; spiritual seekers who are considering joining Nityananda Institute; and, current Institute members who are experiencing doubt about Swami Chetanananda and may want information from outside sources.

[Leaving Nityananda Institute suggests that current members of Nityananda Institute get permission from their Abbot before reading the material on this site.]

If you have a family member or friend in this group and are concerned about their well-being, we suggest you contact the International Cultic Studies Association (ICSA), formerly called the American Family Foundation (AFF), for more information about the process of recovery from psychological and spiritual abuse: www.icsahome.org/or (941) 514-3081.

Leaving Nityananda Institute believes in the right of every person to worship freely as they choose. We also believe in free speech. We believe former members have the right to tell what Swami Chetanananda did to them without receiving threats from Swami Chetanananda and without being harassed by him and his current students.

Press HERE to continue.

Site launched December 2000 - Updated January 2008

Contact Leaving Nityananda Institute at [email protected]

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