Deception describes Kashi experience

Vero Beach Press Journal (FL)
March 30, 2002

Letters to the Editor

“Deception describes Kashi experience”

My wife and I traveled 2,000 miles to be witnesses in litigation pitting Richard Rosenkranz against Kashi Ashram and its charismatic leader, Ma Jaya.

This case, involving his wife, Ma's personal assistant, and his son, who was reportedly abused at Kashi, echoes some of our own horror with what we suffered when Ma took our daughter as her own.

Ma Jaya, who claimed to be a divine being, had convinced both of us to give her our daughter to raise, insisting our daughter would be her designated successor. This deception and coercion by Ma was the worst tragedy of my life.

Shortly after that, my wife and I moved away. Six years after we left, we went to therapists who helped us understand we had been the victims of undue influence and "mind control."

This understanding helped convince us we could return and rescue our daughter. Subsequently, my wife and I returned to Indian River County in 1989 and rescued our daughter from Kashi, with the help of a SWAT team from the Sheriff's Office.

I understand how this so-called "spiritual teacher" also deceived Mr. Rosenkranz. Responding to this recent litigation, my wife and I traveled from Littleton, Colo., to speak about the abuses at Kashi of which we are aware.

The case was settled and we did not testify because Ma and her close disciples did not want to have their dirty laundry exposed by us and other survivors of the Kashi experience.

I feel your paper has a responsibility to your readers and the community to inform them of what I believe is a destructive group hiding behind the well-manicured lawns of Kashi Ashram.

Dr. Harry Brodie Littleton, Colo. New columnist