Swami Satchidananda was an Indian yoga guru and religious teacher who gained fame and following in the West. He founded his own brand of Integral Yoga, and its spacious Yogaville headquarters in Virginia. Born as C. K. Ramaswamy Gounder in 1914, he grew up in a family of wealthy landowners in Chettipalayam, Tamil Nadu. He studied at an agricultural college and then began working in his family's automobile import business, learning how to weld. At age 23, he became a manager at India's National Electric Works. After his wife's sudden death, he traveled throughout India, meditating at shrines, and studying with spiritual teachers including a brief period with Sri Aurobindo. He discovered his guru, Sivananda Saraswati in Rishikesh, a holy town in the foothills of the Himalayas on the banks of the Ganges. There, he was ordained into the sannyasa in 1949 and given the name Swami Satchidananda Saraswati. In 1966, he traveled to New York and eventually stayed for five months. In August 1969, Satchidananda flew in to the Woodstock music festival by helicopter directly to the stage and gave the opening address. In 1991, multiple female members of staff made allegations of sexual manipulation and abuse, and more came forward after an initial protest. No legal complaints were filed, and Satchidananda denied all accusations.