Larry Gross letter to Rick Ross 

April 22, 1999
By Matthew Cheng

Dear Mr. Ross,

I write this letter in a personal capacity only. This matter is for me predominately a personal matter concerning myself and my wife and our private personal life. For you and her family it is apparently about Yogaville.

Mr. Ross, If you review the correspondence, this statement is patently absurd. Virtually every correspondence that I have ever received from Larry Gross has come to me in his official capacity as Yogaville's attorney and spokesman. Each of his letters had his official "Attorney at Law" letterhead, and in each instance, he spoke to me as the representative of Yogaville. His threats, his intimidation, his arrogance, all were based upon his position as Yogaville attorney. In these instances, he would inform us that, if we did not comply with his demands, Yogaville NY lawyers would take additional actions against me. At no time did I ever receive correspondence from Larry Gross other than in his official capacity. When he felt it necessary, he contacted both me and my son repeatedly in this capacity, with threats and acts of intimidation.

Yes, this matter is indeed about Yogaville. My daughter went to Yogaville to rest after a stressful semester of law school. She went to receive yoga lessons. Yet during that time, Yogaville permitted her to spend a week alone with this man, in Washington D.C., to learn about how to perform a closing with their official attorney? Further, as you know, I was told by Swami Vidyananda that she, as an official representative of Yogaville purposely linked Catherine up with this man because of "their mutual interest in the law". In other words, Yogaville purposely linked them together and purposely sponsored her extracurricular trip to Washington D.C. for a week, instead of having her learn any yoga - the intended purpose of her trip. Who paid for her trip to Washington, D.C.? Who paid for her hotel room? Further, Yogaville sanctioned her marriage. Yogaville performed the marriage ceremony. When my son, Matt went to visit them, on a personal trip to visit his sister, it was Prem Anjali, a high ranking representative of Yogaville, who spoke clearly and often on behalf of Catherine, who often couldn't speak on her own behalf. If Yogaville played no role here, if this was truly a personal matter, then why did these other Yogaville representatives get involved with Matt's visit? Why did they answer for Catherine as she sat there mostly transfixed with a "clown smile"? It is ludicrous to say that Yogaville had no involvement in this matter. Rather, Yogaville created the situation, sanctioned it, and carried it forward to its intended fruition, namely to bring another free Yogaville worker on board.

Because it is such a personal matter for me, let me say at the outset that anything I say to you is in that capacity only - personally and individually. I am not acting on behalf of the Yogaville organization as an attorney or otherwise in this matter at this time. Yogaville will have other counsel represent its interests to the extent that that is necessary. If the foregoing changes, I will let you know.

I have read your emails to various Yogaville personnel, which were forwarded to me. Your characterization of me has some degree of accuracy no doubt. The last thing I expected on a Friday afternoon was a call from a deprogrammer implicitly threatening myself, my wife, and the organization I am employed by.

All I can do is tell you the true facts and hope that they will make some impression. I do understand, as a lawyer of many years' experience, how the presentation of facts can affect the perception of a situation or event. And certainly, the manner in which you present the facts can lead to various sinister conclusions by persons who wish to draw such sinister conclusions. 

Yes, certainly, the story of myself and my wife is "unusual." Certainly it is atypical. And persons who are not romantically inclined will look for "rational" explanations which are not readily available. But love doesn't work like that, and all the romantic encounters in history and literature since the beginning of time bear that out.

Yes, there was an "extreme and sudden change" in the "life and plans" of my wife. But the same can be said about anyone who suddenly falls love. (Again, if you don't believe in love, you won't agree with this or understand it. But I am hopeful that you do.)

Mr. Ross, Catherine's extreme and sudden change did not merely involve a sudden "love" for Larry Gross. This change was all consuming and involved her entire personality. On January 5th, she told me that she had been traumatized by a fire but that she was ok. She told me to go to her mailbox at CUNY law school to pick up the bill and pay the tuition for her. On January 6th, I called her and asked that she come back and pay the bill herself. She happily responded, "OK Daddy, I will be back on January 14th and do everything myself". At that time, she still seemed "normal", i.e., laughing and reasonably happy. Yet five days later, she called to tell me that she would marry Larry Gross in one of the most bizarre phone calls I have ever received in my life. It went on for 10 minutes yet involved no more that 1-2 minutes of conversation. It seemed as if she were crying or shaking. She stuttered, hesitated after each word. It didn't sound like Catherine at all. She hung up on me abruptly. When I tried to call back, when other members of the family tried to call back, to better understand what had happened, we were denied access to her. That was the reason I ran down to Yogaville as fast as I could - to find out what they had done to my daughter. And when I got down there and saw her, she didn't look or act like my daughter at all. She had little or no expression in her voice, and said little or nothing. Normally, Catherine was very verbal and laughed often.. However this time, she just sat, head down, and let Larry Gross do all of the talking, which to me mostly involved telling us what he planned for Catherine as his wife. Catherine acted like she wasn't really there, like a automaton, like an extension of Larry Gross. Further, at no time was he friendly or warm to me. He acted mean, angry, and with the attitude of "your daughter is mine now, she is an adult, so you can't tell us (me) what to do", and that I should either accept this or risk losing my daughter forever. In each of his later letters also, you can see the same manipulation. He would make a demand and then say either that Catherine will write later or that they will visit later, in essence implying that if I did not do what was demanded I would never see my daughter again, but that if I did do it, then just maybe I would see her. That is NOT a normal love relationship to anyone.

Yes, my wife came to Yogaville for a brief one-month program. I myself have been living at Yogaville for many years. We met. At first we met because she was a law student.

Catherine did not go to Yogaville for a legal fellowship. Why were they brought together by Yogaville? They did not meet by accident. They were purposely brought together by the swamis. Clearly, this was done so that their mutual interests would attract Catherine to remain there forever and they would have another free slave.

Then we started working together a little, and spending a little time.

Again, why were they working together on legal matters? And over a period of a week??? This was totally inappropriate for the circumstances and the purpose of the visit. It was fostered and condoned by Yogaville in an effort to bind her to the organization.

Before very long we realized there was a very strong attraction between us, and that we were very much in love. 4 weeks is more accurate than 2 weeks for this time period, but it doesn't matter. People have fallen in love after less time. When one meets one's lifetime partner, and the connection is there, all else falls away.

Utter nonsense. This was NOT a normal love or infatuation. Normally when this occurs, you are happy to tell your friends and family, to have them meet your love, to tell everyone about it. In this instance, Catherine became a virtual recluse of the ashram. She did not see any friends or family for months. She refused visits by her family and refused phone calls of her friends and family. She refused to leave the ashram, stating that she feared being kidnapped. What was that about? Where did she get that idea from? Clearly from the Yogaville staff and from Larry Gross. These thoughts were placed in her head to push her farther away from her "crazy" family and friends.. She explained to her friends that she didn't want to speak with them because "I'm afraid of being criticized or people trying to ..talk me out of my decision". If you are in love, you can not be talked out of your decisions. Further, she began criticizing her family in a bizarre manner. While we had been a close family when she left for Yogaville, now she treated her family as strangers at best ("this is my family now") and enemies at worst - suddenly discussing childhood punishments that hadn't been raised in years, and saying that we thought we owned her like one would own a couch. She also began calling me "Father" very coldly. She changed her first name. She refused to "ever go back to NY again". And not only did she not invite any friends or family to her wedding but she didn't even tell us when it was, what it was like, anything. She didn't even send us a picture of her wedding. We were treated just like what Larry Gross and Yogaville wanted us to be - strangers. Interspersed within their later threatening emails, Catherine just suddenly started using the phraseology of "husband" in March. And after repeated questioning, finally said, "yes, we are legally married". This is not a normal love relationship and this was not normal for Catherine. She NEVER would behave like this before. She was always very sociable and friendly, always making friends and being friendly. From January 11th on, she has been a TOTALLY different person - cold, hateful, paranoid - an extension of Larry Gross. Even her method of "dumping" Cris was not a manner that Catherine would use. She had promised him that, if they ever broke up, she would inform him in person. But this wasn't Catherine talking anymore. It was Larry Gross. So, she dumped his with the same cold, calculated manner that she has done everything since January.

Again, I hope you understand or at least can try to understand this. Perhaps I myself did not understand it until it happened to me. But Yogaville had absolutely nothing to do with this, other than providing the "background setting."

Utter nonsense, for the reasons previously stated. Yogaville staff were directly involved in this relationship every step of the way. And they are still involved in this relationship, as they now attempt to cut off their ties to it.

It happened at Yogaville, yes. But that's about it. Yogaville did not encourage or even "aid and abet" our relationship at all.

Utter nonsense. See previous responses.

She was participating in a month-long program which explicitly discouraged dating or relationships so the participants could devote their full attention to the program.

So how did the Program allow her to go to Washington DC for a week long closing? Why did they link them? Why did they marry them? Why did Prem Anjali defend them? Why did they allow them to not answer phone messages? Why did they allow them to live there and sanction all of this? This is all utter nonsense.

I was a monk who was not supposed to be pursuing romantic relationships at all. (Despite your use of quotation marks, I was indeed a monk and Swami for fifteen years). Yet it happened. Love somehow found a way. It took both of us by surprise, and we knew that our lives were changed forever.  

At first we told no one - no one at all. We discussed what to do. We considered just "eloping," if that term is still in use, but decided instead that we both really wanted to live at Yogaville, and hence that we would openly reveal our romance and face whatever consequences ensued. We also planned to visit Dr. Cheng in New York and fully discuss everything with him.

Openly reveal? There was nothing open or revealing about this entire sordid incident. To have my daughter call me to say she is getting married then hang up abruptly, to not speak with us for months by phone or allow us to visit her, to not know when or if they got married, to disappear when I went to visit them, to treat Matt with scorn and ridicule when he visited, to talk to the family with threats, intimidation, demands, all the while keeping Catherine hostage. There was nothing open or revealing about any of this. This was not a love match. This was a cult match. I think any reasonable person can see from the correspondence I received from Larry Gross since January that, at best, he intended to talk down to me, not with me - to tell me what he planned to do, not to discuss anything. In the restaurant, when I tried to discuss their future plans, he responded with derision and scorn - telling me that he had already decided what Catherine would do - she would learn HTML and work with computers. Meanwhile, she sat there with a strange smile, saying nothing. Further how could she possibly be planning to come to visit her family in New York when she has told many of her CUNY friends that she was never going back to NY again? How could she come back to visit us after telling us that she was abused as a child by us, and that now she was now afraid of us, and that now she was afraid that we would kidnap her. Why couldn't she speak with her friends on the phone? Would they kidnap her by telephone? Mr. Gross wants to have it both ways, but it just doesn't fit.

At first there was shock and surprise, especially among my fellow monks, but gradually everyone saw how much in love we were and how sincere we were and came to accept the situation.  

Again, here his sole concern was how Yogaville perceived his actions. His response to the family was to use threats and intimidation and bullying tactics. As he told my son Matt, "I am now your brother in law, whether you like it or not".

Certainly neither the Yogaville administration nor anyone at Yogaville encouraged us to pursue our relationship or get married.

Utter nonsense, as discussed previously. 

Quite the contrary. We were counseled to wait, get to know each other better, etc. It was our decision, AGAINST the advice of others, to not wait.

If this were Catherine's decision, why would she tell her friends that she could not talk with them on the phone for fear that they might talk her out of her decision? Love can't be talked away on a telephone. Why couldn't she visit her family? Why wouldn't we be invited to the wedding other than that Gross had no use for us?.

When I told Catherine to wait, to delay this marriage, she said nothing and simply stared at the floor. Larry Gross answered, saying that they would be getting married and that that was that. This was not a "we" relationship. It was clear to me that Larry Gross was making all of the decisions and that Catherine had merely become a puppet of his.

We knew we were in love, that we would be devoted to each other for the rest of our lives, and we had no doubt. So WE went ahead. You cannot blame Yogaville for this and threaten to cause it harm.  

We can and do blame Yogaville explicitly, for the reasons previously discussed.  

There are several other facts which also can be expounded upon and clarified. Your letter states or implies that we were married after only two weeks of knowing each other. That is not correct at all. We were engaged for some months before getting married. And when we did get married, it was our choice, and against the advice of the people at Yogaville, who, as said, counseled against it.

But the marriage took place IN Yogaville, BY Yogaville, and FOR Yogaville They would profit from this relationship in many ways.. Catherine's family was neither invited nor told of this ceremony. We never even knew for sure whether they were getting married or not or when. Catherine and Gross told us little or nothing about this, as they told us little or nothing about anything. They simply made demands in their letters, nothing more, and dangled bits and pieces of information before us in a cruel effort to get their never ending demands met.

You point to my wife's dropping out of law school. In and of itself perhaps this seems like a "sudden change" leading to a sinister conclusion. But the fact is that she was very unhappy at law school.

Catherine loved law school. She chose to go to law school. Her family did not choose it for her. She chose to go to CUNY on her own. She won and participated in legal fellowships that she also loved. She did well in her studies and won numerous fellowships and other awards. And she had wanted to win another fellowship. Her grades were excellent. True, she was upset by the failures and stresses that she encountered, but this is normal for most students. She always said that her goal was to complete her degree, to then get an advanced law degree, and to spend her life assisting the disadvantaged and downtrodden of the world. She told this to Cris and told it to herself in her diary. Yogaville exaggerated her law school unhappiness in their attempt to manipulate her to remain there, forever. This was done in the same way they manipulated her to think of her family as evil and NY as a terrible place to be.

(You can verify this from her yourself, which I will get to at the end of this letter - I do not expect you to take my word on matters relating to the state of mind of another person or matters as to which I do not have personal knowledge.) She did not express this unhappiness to her family. There were many things she did not express to her family. Perhaps it would have been better if this were different. But it was not. And the fact remains that she was unhappy at law school, and really had no genuine desire to be a lawyer.  

Her diary listed her short and long range plans. They involved, first, completing her law degree. Cris will attest to this as well.  

I myself wish that this were not so, as I would love to have a partner.

This is a lie also. Catherine could never be his legal partner. She would have to complete law school. To do that, he would have to pay her way through law school, which he has no intention of doing. Also, she would have to leave Yogaville to attend school. That is also forbidden. There was never any intention of allowing Catherine to leave Yogaville. If she left, she might never return. That was why she was not even allowed to speak with her friends on the telephone, let alone with any family members. Yogaville's intention, Gross' intention was that Catherine would primarily be Gross' sex partner, and that during the day, when he worked for Yogaville, she would also serve Yogaville. She would either use the skills that she brought in from the outside to Yogaville, or she would learn new skills in Yogaville - such as driving a car or working with computers. Catherine would serve the Ashram, as all do, performing free services for the rest of her life, probably working 12-15 hours/day.

But it is perfectly obvious to me, based upon years of experience interacting with lawyers, that my wife has neither a legally-oriented mind or the interest in developing one.

Catherine was an excellent legal student and had won numerous awards. Further, until her trip to Yogaville, she was committed to the law and to using it to help those who could not help themselves. However, since going to law school does not fit in with being a full-time Yogaville resident, it had to be eliminated along with her name, her boyfriend, her previous interests, her friends and family.

Her interests lie in other fields, such as finance, and even art, and she will pursue those fields.

Catherine chose law school. She never expressed any interest in either art or finance at any time previously. Her diary makes no mention of either. It merely states that she is thrifty and likes to save her money. She went to law school because she wanted to be a lawyer. No one chose this for her. Catherine always had a mind of her own, until now. She did previously express a desire to write, discussing the possibility of using it in conjunction with her law degree. She also expressed an interest in owning her own business. She never discussed art with anyone.

But law was something she never really wanted to get into in the first place. She was pushed to go to some graduate school, and that was what was available.

Totally untrue. Catherine chose McGill. Catherine chose CUNY law school. She even discusses this in her diary - saying that she is happy with her decision and further, that she planned to attend graduate school in the law.

You also point to "aborted wedding plans with a long-time boyfriend." Please ask the family if she ever told them about any such "wedding plans," or even about the "boyfriend." She says that she never did. How credible then are such "wedding plans," if she did not even tell anyone about them? According to her the "wedding plans" are the fantasy if you will of the boyfriend, which he wanted to believe. But again, you can verify this from her for yourself. Consider also that in the case of her relationship with me, she called her father early on and asked his blessing, without hesitation.

Catherine's wedding plans are listed throughout her diary as well as in her writings to Cris. She asked Cris to inquire about having a wedding or reception at the Queens Botanical Gardens. They had planned to either work together for the State Department or to go to Miami. Catherine sent Cris a book called "Planning Weddings for Dummies". That was not imaginary.

My feeling at the time Catherine asked for my blessing of her wedding to Gross, in the midst of their continued threats and intimidation, and after saying how much she feared and hated her "old family" was that if I did not give my blessings that she would never speak with the family again. I gave my blessings to try to improve relations with her, since she and Gross were going to do what they were going to do anyway. They totally disregarded any of the family's feelings or thoughts. At best we were treated as strangers. At worst, enemies. The calls and emails have all been one-way, threatening calls, demanding calls. The family could never call her. She said that she was "too busy" to talk to us and/or feared for her life. Any excuse that they could conceive of was used to keep her away from us. Yet now, when it is in their interest to speak with us, Catherine suddenly has lost all of her fears. She now calls many times a day and leaves her home number for us to call. What utter hypocracy.  

You point also to the short time we knew each other, to our age difference, and to my former monkhood. True, we knew each other about four weeks before becoming engaged.  

Catherine said two weeks in her bizarre telephone call. Further, Swami Vidyananda also said to me, during my visit to Yogaville on January 13, that they had known each other for only 2 weeks. So it would appear that Gross is lying here.

As I point out above, this is not unheard of. So far as our age difference, it is unusual no doubt, but also not unheard of. Indeed, the age difference between Dr. Cheng and his wife is roughly similar. How then can he draw sinister conclusions from this?  

For one thing, in her diary she said that she has few prejudices, but one that she really has is "young woman-older man" relationships. She doesn't like them, doesn't understand them, and they strike her as strange and unattractive. She said that she felt the same way about her parents relationship. Yet now, she thinks nothing of marrying a man who is 30 years her senior. That strikes us as exceedingly bizarre.

And so far as my former monkhood, that too draws parallel to Dr. Cheng, who to my understanding renounced the Catholic priesthood to marry his wife many years younger. I am not proud of failing to live up to my monastic vows, but certainly no negative conclusion can be drawn from that in the context you are pursuing, as I openly admitted my change and my love for my wife before all. You can find nothing but honesty and good intentions in this.  

The issue here is not Gross and his monastic vows. The issue is Catherine's sudden and complete personality and life change within a matter of 5 days. Within 5 days, she turned her back on her love of Spanish, her love of Cris, her family, law school, her name, all of her possessions (clothes, diary, etc.), all of her friends at school, etc.  

Getting back to Dr. Cheng, as I said, we had every intention of going to see him in New York to seek his blessings. Instead, when my wife called him, he got very upset and precipitously came here on short notice.

Not true, as discussed previously. Catherine and Gross had no intention of going to NYC. They supposedly feared kidnapping and also now hated New York and her "old family" who beat her as a child and who she still now feared. Catherine told her friends that she never wanted to return again to NYC.

I went on short notice (3 days, because Yogaville would not permit me to go earlier!) based on the bizarre 10 minute phone call I received.

I arranged for his meals and accommodations (at my expense, not Yogaville's), as well as his transportation.  

When I went to Yogaville, I had no knowledge that he intended to do any of this. It was not arranged warmly or with my knowledge. I went on my own to discuss this situation with Catherine. I tried calling her before I left to tell her I was coming, but I could not reach her by phone. When I got there, Gross and Catherine suddenly appeared. They told us (Frank and I) to get into their car because they would take us to a Chinese Restaurant. You know the rest of the story. To call this "arranging for my meals and accommodations" is bizarre. We were going to see what had happened to Catherine. We didn't go because of his unknown arrangements.  

He was free to meet and talk with anyone and see whatever he wished.

This is not true. Neither Catherine nor I were free there.

I wanted Catherine to come in to a meeting with the head of the Living Yoga Program. However, Gross very rudely took her arm and tried to pull her away. It is HE who caused a commotion and a scene, not me. He acted panicked, as if fearing that she would leave him forever if she spoke with the Director of the program, who had already said that she should leave Yogaville with me. Catherine has not been free since she went there. And Larry Gross is her jailer. Later, he disappeared with her. 

Nor was I free to do whatever I wished there. After Catherine and Gross disappeared, I wanted to stay at the ashram and wait for them, however, I was told that I had to leave. I was told to go to Charlottesville, find a hotel, and call Yogaville from time to time to see if Catherine had returned and was willing to talk to me.

Instead, he unfortunately was so upset that a big scene was caused, and my wife became fearful for her safety.  

Utter nonsense. Catherine was NOT fearful for her safety. What is he saying? That I would hurt her? It was he who was hurting her by pulling on her arm. On the contrary, Catherine ran out of the room because she was fearful that her mind would be changed by the Director, who told her that she should go home. She said that she didn't want to go home, and ran away with Larry Gross.  

Since then he has apologized and expressed regret for this. (You say you have all the email correspondence, so I assume you have this. If not, I can provide a copy).  

Again, my apologies were designed to improve relations so that we might be able to see our hostage daughter, who we were told we would never see again because she hated us and feared us so much.  

Because of the above incident and the fear it engendered in my wife, there was no contact for some time. She was physically abused as a child, and these memories contributed to the fear as well. From this point on there was a fear of physical abuse and kidnapping, and precautions had to be taken. Again, you can question her about these things.

I have no doubt that Catherine had all of these fears - all instilled into her by the Yogaville staff. Before going to Yogaville, she loved her family very much and feared nothing. As my first child, she always knew that I cared deeply about her and, if anything, spoiled her. Everyone, even our neighbors, always said that I spoiled her. Her diary is crystal clear on her warm feelings for her family.

There was no basis in fact for any fear of kidnapping with "precautions" that needed to be taken. This was/is paranoia run wild to be used as justification for their bizarre behaviors. In fact, it has been Gross who has been threatening US - that he/Yogaville would destroy us all. We weren't threatening Gross. All we wanted to do was see Catherine. And we were constantly told that she wasn't ready, she was too busy, she was afraid, she didn't want us to make long distance phone calls, etc. etc. etc. Any excuse was used. The truth was that they feared that if she spoke with us she would leave. They would never let us speak with her alone, for fear of kidnapping. Yes, they feared that if we spoke with her alone, she would leave of her own volition. Yogaville couldn't bear that to happen especially after all the time and effort and expense they put into keeping her there.

Then in February the younger Matthew Cheng, with whom my wife says she had no contact whatsoever for the preceding two years, all of a sudden called and announced his intention to come here, and demanded to be picked up. We called and told him not to come.  

Matt called and said that he wanted to see her. Catherine called back coldly, saying that she didn't want to see him and that he shouldn't come for two reasons - no one would pick him up and she wouldn't see him anyway. You have a copy of this call. Her voice breaks when she says that she is "fine" and happy.  

He came anyway, and his version of the rest is well documented. Perhaps we should have received him warmly as a brother with open arms, but my wife had too much fear, felt she had nothing to say to him after two years of estrangement, and things unfortunately did not go well. We wish that we could do the whole visit over and receive him at our home.

Matt was NOT received by Gross and Catherine. He was received and spoken to by Prem and Yogaville. As Matt weeped, Gross coldly told him to get out of his ashram. Gross feared Matt - that he might cause Catherine to leave. Catherine seemed spaced out during this session. Catherine did not look afraid of Matt. She looked confused, especially when Matt cried.

There followed the website/domain name matters, which were then resolved, or so we thought, and Dr. Cheng wrote several conciliatory emails, which you say you have, giving his blessings to our marriage, saying to let bygones be bygones, speaking of everyone having peace, and even offering to make a wedding party and invite all the Yogaville members. We also wrote conciliatory emails, and things became much more peaceful. The matter of the party was held in abeyance by mutual agreement while we all took some time to rest from the tensions of the preceding months. Then there was a period of silence when messages were not returned, and now all of a sudden you are retained. We are at a loss to understand this change.

I gave my blessings if this was truly Catherine's decision, and I still do. But for the reasons previously described - the way she has acted, looked, spoken, etc., we don't believe that this was her decision at all. We are at a loss to understand her sudden personality change, let alone her marriage to this man.

You mentioned to me on the phone, I believe, about a concern for my wife's health and safety. To my wife and me, this is like an Alice in Wonderland concern. My wife is happy, healthy, and safe. I don't think there is anyone who could love and care for their wife as I care for mine. Of course, others must also love and care for their wives, but I can't imagine that I could love and care for mine any more than I do. Yes, she has a dry skin problem. According to her, she's always had a dry skin problem.  

Her rash was worse than we had ever seen it before and her lips were strangely swollen. She looked very pale, as if she is fed little.  

She's been to several medical people about it, and she's got all kinds of creams and remedies. But it is also exacerbated by tension and stress, stemming from these continuing family problems. So far as safety, again, this is like an Alice in Wonderland question. The only threat to my wife's safety is the fear of kidnapping, and the continuing security precautions we have to take because of it.

Again, where did this fear of kidnapping come from if not from Yogaville itself, in an effort to insure she remains a slave there forever. Purposeful paranoia has been instilled into her mind, to insure that she never leaves and to ensure free service from her for decades.

It's true that my wife and I live at Yogaville. As I said earlier, that's where we wish to live. But Yogaville is not responsible for our health, medical care, food, safety, clothing, bodily needs, etc.  

Who was responsible during the gas explosion? What happened? The family was never told anything about it. Who paid for her treatments? What hospital did she go to?

That was different for me when I was a monk. Now we are a married couple living in Yogaville housing. We are renters. Many people live in Yogaville housing. The fact is, Yogaville owns a lot of property. But we have our own life and are responsible for ourselves. I am also employed by Yogaville as you know. My wife is not employed by Yogaville. She spends a lot of time studying at home, and is considering where to go with her career plans in terms of education and so forth.  

Catherine has told CUNY friends that she spends weekends wearing saris, presumably to display to the tourists. While she may not be employed by Yogaville, it is quite clear that she works for them, provides services for them, especially on the weekends. Her current "studying" consists of indoctrination into the religious beliefs of Satchidananda. Further, she had told CUNY friends that her current career "plans" consist of visiting India in the very near future for a month or more.

I pursue my law practice and try to earn as much as possible to support myself and my wife. That is our life. We are still deeply in love, and we are very happy together. The most important thing to us is to be together. We love and cherish each other. That fact transcends all others.

Catherine has told her CUNY friends that her love for Gross has had its "ups and downs". She has told them that they have completely different, perhaps opposite, personalities. She told them, "I'm happy go lucky and mellow and tend to be on the lazy, take it easy, what's the rush side and he's a get up and go, Type A perfectionist kind of person."

In America we have freedom of religion. Exercising that freedom, we choose to be affiliated with Yogaville. That is our right. We also freely chose to be married, which I discussed above. We are two adults in a free country, healthy, happy, and very much in love. I don't know what more a family could want for their daughter/sister.

We would like to resolve this situation and set things right with the family. Yogaville is not the problem as you perceive it - it is only the setting.  

He can make this statement a thousand times, but it is just as false each time.

We like to live here and we want to live here and we choose to live here. But we cannot continue to live here if this situation is not resolved. The Yogaville authorities have already informed us of this. Even if they did not, we care too much about the organization and our friends here to let them be subjected to this unjustly. So if we need to leave Yogaville we will. We are prepared to do so. But we are not going to love the family for forcing us to leave our friends and our home of choice. I will lose my job and have to close my practice, and we will simply have to settle somewhere and take whatever jobs we can find to support ourselves. My wife's career plans will have to held in abeyance until we get established again.

Catherine has no current career plans. She is too busy working in Yogaville and being of service to them to think of her own needs, which are considered selfish by the group. Her only plans are learning how to drive, so that she can help drive people around the grounds, dressing in saris for the tourists, and visiting India in the near future. That is the truth.

At least we will have each other, and our love will endure. But we will always remember why we were forced into that situation. Is this what the family wants, to separate us from Yogaville and by so doing create hardship for us and lasting ill will between us all? True, there is ill will now, I know. That is obvious. But it seemed on its way to being reconciled. If we are now forced to give up our home and I my livelihood, future reconciliation will be most difficult. But please know that no matter what happens, my wife will never leave me, and I will never leave her.

If Catherine wishes to remain with Gross, so be it. We would merely like her to return to visit the family for a 10 day period without him. We would like to determine whether these thoughts are hers or Gross'. We believe they are Gross' thoughts.  

Finally, I imagine you want to hear some of this from my wife, and that by voice, and not in writing. So be it. We can arrange a telephone conference to start. You know how to reach me.

We don't want a phone call. We want her with her family for 10 days. She will be safe. No one will kidnap her. Nothing illegal would occur, unlike what happened to her in Yogaville. After that, she may return to Yogaville if she wishes.

If her love is so strong, why can't she leave? Why can't she speak with her friends and relatives on the telephone? Why can't she visit her family? Because of kidnapping? Where is that paranoia coming from if not from Yogaville itself, so that it may keep her there, continuing to serve them as a slave.