[1] During his short career in the Indian Army in 1944,[2] he was inspired by a pamphlet, Sadhana Tattwa, written by the yoga guru Sivananda, founder of the Divine Life Society.

It was one of the first reference books on asanas;[9] it was illustrated throughout with 146 large monochrome studio photographs of Vishnudevananda, wearing swimming shorts, demonstrating the poses.

[11] The book took Surya Namaskar, the salute to the sun, which Sivananda had promoted as a health cure, and presented it as fitness exercise.

[14] In February 1962, Vishnudevananda saw the present site of the Yoga Camp in Val Morin, and chose to settle in the dense forest area near the Laurentian Mountains.

The Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centre was opened there on 19 September 1962 by Marcia Moore, an American trained by Vishnudevananda a few years earlier.

[24] Later that same year, on 6 October, he took off with his co-pilot Bren Jacobson, who had been with him during the entire trip, from Tel Aviv to fly over the war-ridden Suez Canal and was buzzed by Israeli jets.

[25][26] In 1984, he and his students toured India in a double-decker bus, conducting programs to awaken the Indian people to their ancient tradition of yoga.

[26] Over the years, Vishnudevananda met regularly with other spiritual and religious leaders to promote interfaith dialogue and understanding; among other things, Catholic students studied Yoga at the Sivananda center in Larchmont.

Several former and current students criticised the ISYVC for continuous reverence of Vishnudevananda and demanded the organisation to remove his portraits from altars and yoga practice rooms.

[31] Salter's personal testimony, posted to Facebook in December 2019, detailed the long-term physical, mental, and sexual abuse she allegedly received from Vishnudevananda.

Salter reported she had brought her complaint regarding sexual abuse committed against her by Vishnudevananda to The ISYVC, but they did not accept her allegations.

[33] Salter and 14 other women described their experiences, including alleged rape, to the BBC journalist and Sivananda yoga teacher Ishleen Kaur.

Salter stated that when she told Vishnudevananda she did not understand his instruction to lie down next to him, he replied "Tantra yoga", implying some form of spiritual sexual activity.

[34][35] Project SATYA was established by Angela Gollat, Antonia Abu Matar, and Jens Augspurger and primarily served as a discussion space and survivor support group on Facebook.

The Project SATYA admins lamented the lack of clarity and transparency in the ISYVC approach, including their initial reluctance to provide information on the investigation process.

The Project SATYA admins commissioned Carol Merchasin and Josna Pankhania to investigate the allegations independently and with a survivor-centred approach that was meant to reduce the harm of the participants and informants.