On 20 December 2014, the Chair of the management committee of the Shiva School of Meditation and Yoga publicly announced that they had become aware that the Director, Swami Shankarananda, had been having sex with a number of devotees. He promised a transparent investigation and said Swami Shankarananda had stood down from his position.
But Shankarananda had stood down in title only (he is no longer listed as the "Director"). He immediately resumed his role as spiritual director, running various programs, counselling ashram residents and non-residential devotees, and remained living on the ashram grounds along with ashram residents.
The only 'investigation' that was conducted was a series of telephone interviews by an external 'mediator', Callum Campbell. A report produced by Mr Campbell was provided to the management committee, but they have refused to release any details of its findings and recommendations.
On 16 March 2014, Melbourne newspaper The Age revealed there is now an official police investigation into allegations of sexual abuse by Swami Shankarananda (see Article in The Age newspaper).
