The wellness industry was in shock when negative reports about Swami Vivekananda Saraswati, founder of biggest tantric yoga school, Agama Yoga, on the island of Koh Phangan in Thailand emerged. Also known as Narcis Tarcau, he was accused of sexual assault by its former women staff members and students.
The Guardian reported, via Sputnik International, sixteen former students and staff of Agama Yoga claimed a "sex cult" was operating inside the center. They also believed the facility made it easier for the culprits to do the crime that could be as worse as rape.
Multiple reports revealed "hundreds of women" were persuaded to have sex with Saraswati as he tried to convince them it was the way to obtain the "tantric healing." Some of them were from the United Kingdom, Australia, Brazil, the United States, and Canada.
Fourteen women claimed they got sexually assaulted by "senior male staffers." They also revealed sexual misconduct got normalized at Agama Yoga. "It felt like a cult, he put a spell over us, and people had completely blind trust in him and his spiritual powers," one of the victims said but requested to be anonymous.
According to Agama Yoga's official statement on its website, Saraswati decided to leave all of his "administrative and teaching responsibilities" because of the sensitivity of the case and the accusations thrown at him. The yoga school founder even fled the country, although the center is actively operating.
Saraswati is originally from Romania and only arrived in Thailand through Rishikesh, the Indian birthplace of yoga. The South China Morning Post reported the experience of the victims created a huge impact on their well-being that gave them a hard time to move on.
One of them said being at Agama Yoga gave her the "most traumatic experience" of her life. "I'm not sure I will ever be able to get over what happened there," she said as the memories would not easily fade away.
Agama Yoga, on the other hand, issued an apology to all the women who allegedly suffered sexual assault at the center. But it denied the school was a "sex cult." It insisted the facility is a "spiritual university" whose main principles came from the real yoga tradition.
It further explained its teachings only follow the principles of the tantric path, which includes a limited part of sexual tantra. "It is clearly separated from the main curriculum," it said.
