Larry Gross's claims

May 4, 2000

Note: Larry Gross claims that he disassociated himself from Yogaville after his controversial marriage to Catherine Cheng. However, since his supposed "letter of resignation" (dated April 1999) he clearly continues to hold official positions within Yogaville's enterprises according to official records.

Dear Father-in-Law,

Good afternoon. Thank you for your reply. You need to reread the paragraph of my previous fax which concerns the point you question. I reproduce it here for your convenience:

You make a point of the fact that I told you I was fired, and that this conflicts with Swami Asokananda's words. Well, I was fired. Meenakshi was in the room and witnessed it all. They stood there and demanded my resignation, and I had to give it. I quickly wrote it out and threw it. Perhaps I can still find a copy f you really want to see it. This is the same as being fired - everyone in the world knows that. When a resignation is demanded, a person is fired. And in fact since that day, which was April 22, 1999, 1 was never reinstated to any of my positions at Yogaville. We were allowed to come back and live, true. But I was only allowed to work as a private lawyer. Since April 22, 1999, 1 have never held any position with Yogaville.

As I said there, I can only say again: there was no "termination letter." Rather, my resignation was demanded verbally, and I quickly wrote it out and essentially threw it. I have retrieved a copy, and I enclose it for you.

During the period from April 22, 1999, until the time we returned to Yogaville in June, I did not work for Yogaville. I considered myself "fired," because my resignation was demanded it was not voluntary at all. Under such circumstances people consider themselves "fired."

If you think I was still working for Yogaville, it must be because of the emails your son stole by breaking into my private email account (please keep this in mind when talking to us about "ethics"). Ross tried to confront Meenakshi with this. He mentioned an email concerning some people named Dinsmoor. Well, the Dinsmoors were my private clients. They were selling their house near Yogaville and moving to California. I represented them - and was paid for doing so (by them) - and I had to keep up with this matter, among others, by email while away in NY. A friend at Yogaville Federal Credit Union (which also provides mortgage loans) was helping me with this. Yogaville Federal Credit Union is not owned or controlled by Yogaville. It is controlled by the federal government, and owned by its members. The fact that I communicated and did business with these people does not mean that I was "working for Yogaville." I was doing my own private business, representing private persons. If you can't understand this, there's nothing more I can really say or do about it. If you have other stolen emails which you believe "prove" I was working for Yogaville, please show them to me. I may have had a few communications about administrative matters I left behind which were now being handled by someone else. You must remember that I had a responsible position which I was forced to leave after a long period of service. There was no time for an orderly transition. If questions arose, I was obliged to respond to them. And beyond this, I had personal friends at Yogaville whom I communicated with by email. This is not "working for Yogaville."

The above is the truth, father-in-law, and that's all I can say. Please read my previous letter again and consider it well. We are willing to meet you half-way or more, to enter into discussions, to try and clear the air, try and bring about healing. Please read it again and consider what you want to do. We can only offer.

Have a good evening, and be well. Feel free to contact me further.

Sincerely,

Larry

PS Meenakshi continues to be well. She has read your fax and seen your message. Again, please refer to my previous letter.

Note: Despite statements made by Catherine Cheng (now called "Meenakshi" Gross), her husband Larry Gross (aka "Sundaram") and leaders at Yogaville, which claim Catherine and Larry are no longer associated with Yogaville--a letter posted March 2001 on the Yogaville Web site proved otherwise. Both "Meenakshi" and "Sundaram" were listed prominently amongst "20 Western devotees" who "came [to India] to pay respects to Sri Gurudev [aka Swami Satchidananda]...with offerings" at a celebration attended by Yogaville's supreme leader. Shortly after their trip to India, Larry Gross and Catherine Cheng moved back to Swami Satchindananda's community and are now once again residents of Yogaville. Larry continues to handle legal matters for Yogaville and its interests. He also solicits business from the mainstream Hindu community within Virginia. "Meenakshi Sundaram" (aka Catherine Cheng) has become a "Certified Integral Yoga Hatha Teacher" and conducts classes at a center not far from Yogaville, in the nearby town of Buckingham, Virginia.

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