The land of mysticism and ancient wisdom, India has had its share of gurus, sadhus, yogis and a plethora of holy men. Periodically, a vulgar scandal involving some of these so-called godmen erupts, exposing them as charlatans and sleazebags who have been regularly hoodwinking the naive, gullible masses. What beats me is that people never learn, and just after one crook has been exposed and there has been a lot of hoopla about the scandal, the next one emerges, replete with millions of followers, international branches of their ashrams, promotional books, CDs, DVDs and other money-churning merchandise that fill their coffers to unimaginable levels. The sleaze, corruption and debauchery is continually perpetuated to mind-boggling levels, much to everyone's disbelief and dismay! I am no longer shocked by all this, just bewildered as to how people in their right-thinking minds could so easily be duped!
The latest sex scandal in India originates from my home state and involves a 32-year old man Nithyananda, a self-acclaimed guru considered to be a reincarnation of the great sage Vivekananda. With 20 million devotees following his every word, 1500 ashrams around the world and an international headquarters in Los Angeles, assets worth hundreds of millions of dollars worldwide, and politicians, celebrities and multi-millionaire businessmen touting his philosophy, he has been secretly caught on tape in a sex romp with yet another sleazy actress. And this by one of his own slighted disciples! Rumor has it that this is just one of his sexcapades, that there are several other women involved, that the "brahmachari" (bachelor) who was supposed to uphold the vow of celibacy considered himself an avatar of Lord Krishna, thus justifying all his secret, erotic cavorting with a bevy of nubile young women. The videos are making the rounds on You Tube, I hear, and Internet magazines are putting out "pay-per-view" offers to readers who want the more salacious stuff!
Well, Nithyananda has gone into hiding, the actress is AWOL, the media is screaming betrayal and bloody murder, the people who were duped are beating his statues with sandals and slippers and demolishing them with hammers, his effigies, pictures and banners are being burned on the streets, the police department is out with a warrant to arrest him on sight, multiple cases of cheating have been filed against him in the law courts, celebrities who were associated with him are maintaining a stoic silence, politicians are clamoring for regulations regarding such "holy men" to be enforced, and the lay person is scratching his head in absolute horror and disbelief as history repeats itself!
Will people never learn? Are they just plain stupid, or is it all a willing suspension of disbelief? Whatever it is, my unequivocal stand is, "We've had enough! So be gone, godmen!"
Nicely covered article Olivia...
ReplyDeleteWe are what we, ever forgiving and ever ready to live another day..
With most of us Indians,there is a general tendency to run away from facts as they exist. we try to find security in words. A person gifted with words can easily sway the mass in his favor.
Our being extremely emotional so often result into such repetition.
Wait!! Sooner or later , other Baba,s and Swamis will also be exposed. we don't have dearth of these self styled 'Enlightened'..But who cares!!
" Sab Chalta hai"!!
Thanks a lot, Anil! You hit the nail on the head that anyone with the gift of the gab can easily sway the masses. The suckers that people are, Nithyananda is not the last godman to be seen, for sure!
ReplyDelete“Truth is a pathless land”. Man cannot come to it through any organization, through any creed, through any dogma, priest or ritual, not through any philosophical knowledge or psychological technique. He has to find it through the mirror of relationship, through the understanding of the contents of his own mind, through observation and not through intellectual analysis or introspective dissection. - J Krishnamurthi
ReplyDeleteThe repeated exposure of the so called self declared 'God-men' and Mutt Heads & other such parasites remind me often the above saying. There is no 'Sarvaroga Nivarani' for the social deceases. One man's problem may be solved by something but the same formula cannot be applied to other man, he has to find out his own way of solving it by imbibing the essence of the previous experiment.
People's self-centric nature and the passion to consume whichever comes in front of him or on his way drive them crazy, when his inability stands before them as a stumbling block they try to trash it out by the help of the so called God-men. As Anil correctly put it the man who has a command over his words easily engulfs his victim with his vicious tentacles(we are prone to such type of deceases right form our early civilization). People are 'passion gone mad', they want to indulge themselves in rat race to win the post. We will be certainly have such incidents in our near future. People will forget every thing easily.
Have I not reason to lament
WHAT MAN HAS MADE OF MAN? - WW
Siva, JK could not have said it better! This social disease of the so-called godmen has become endemic in Indian society. We all have to lament with Wordsworth, I suppose! Woe betide us!
ReplyDeleteIt is everywhere Olivia, I am able to grab a series of God men driving ordinary people even from the so called civilized society (reproduced few from the search engine here at the end) Here in TN only the nasty activities of the top man matters, Where as, the following results I gathered from Goggle narrate the tragic and foolish end of valuable human lives. How people are blindfold as far as the faith is concerned - upon their gurus. The reasons may be vary but the control taken by the headmen was complete - unconditional & unquestioned surrender of the followers, it perplexed me I read the article about Jim Jones in 'The Hindu daily' way back in 1979, and it has been with me down the memory lane all these time, even after this age and experience I am startled by the incident. HOW CAN IT POSSIBLE? DO A MASS CAN BE HYPNOTIZED THAT MUCH?. While you compare that with the present events in TN THIS is nothing. The headlines follow:-
ReplyDeleteJonestown was the informal name for the "Peoples Temple Agricultural Project", an intentional community in northwestern Guyana formed by the Peoples Temple, an American cult led by Jim Jones. It became internationally notorious when, on November 18, 1978, 918 people died in the settlement as well as in a nearby airstrip and in Georgetown, Guyana's capital. The name of the settlement became synonymous with the incidents at those locations.
Solar Temple
From 1994 to 1997, the Order of the Solar Temple's members began a series of mass suicides, which led to roughly 74 deaths. Farewell letters were left by members, stating that they believed their deaths would be an escape from the "hypocrisies and oppression of this world." Added to this they felt they were "moving on to Sirius." Records seized by the Quebec police showed that some members had personally donated over $1 million to the cult's leader, Joseph Di Mambro.
Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God
On March 17, 2000, 778 members of the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God died in Uganda.[23] The theory that all of the members died in a mass suicide was changed to mass murder when decomposing bodies were discovered in pits with signs of strangulation while others had stab wounds
Heaven's Gate
On March 26, 1997, 39 followers of Heaven's Gate died in a mass suicide in Rancho Santa Fe, California, which borders San Diego to the north.
These people are parasites more dangerous than the serial killers. What kind of demarcation we can put between good God-men and bad. Is there a real good God-man live(I do not see anybody) who are totally selfless?
when a man infested with more money and gold and property what could he do, except indulge in worldly pleasures by cheating others. Everybody is no JK who relinquished the title
"WORLD STAR" and gave away a big castle in Scotland and who did not want a follower.
Facebook Comments:
ReplyDeleteShanmuga Priya Prathap:
"Nice article ma'am...yes, Iam no longer shocked either...this stuff just keeps repeating itself:(..On the other side of the story,there's also been rumours that the media has had this tape in its possession for over a year now and has been negotiating for many many crores of rupees:(...Its really sad."
Thanks, Priya. You're right...our folks will never change, and as long as they are gullible, there'll always be someone or the other to hoodwink them! The media has been downright shameful too, I suppose.
Saro Sundar - On Facebook:
ReplyDelete"Each one wants to make money out of this but these godmen deserve more than this. Our people (educated and cultured) blindly going behind these people thinking that these godmen have some extra power etc.. I seriously wish all these godmen should be exposed.
Priya: There is nothing to feel sad about this. These godmen make the followers fool and ... See More take all the money from them thro someway or the other. Just tell me why these people never have lower class people as followers. If they really have power as the blind followers say, why don't they go to villages and do something to uplift the poor people . why always their discourses are in major towns... I wonder when people will really , I mean really , realise about these cheating people and come out of all these blind faith."
Saro, I read the stories about Nithyananda in Vikatan magazine and was dumbfounded ...you're right ... he was targeting only the rich. It seems just to be in his presence during a pooja, people had to pay a hundred thousand rupees. For paadha pooja, it was 11 times that, I believe! Unbelievable! No wonder he has 1500 ashrams around the world!
Saro Sundar, again on Facebook:
ReplyDelete"I read from his assistants' interview that he uses a method 'tantras' to mesmerise wealthy women who will become his strong followers after that. I was shocked to read this Olivia... I will blame these women only . Dont they know that he is also a human like us. stupid faith..."
Krithika Swaminathan on Facebook:
ReplyDelete"Kodumai Ma'am. Every few years, a new crook emerges.. It was Premananda, followed by Kalki swamigal and now Nityananda.. I don't blame the guy but the people who fall for them. They never seem to learn..."
Saro Sundar on Facebook:
ReplyDelete"Our people will never learn from all these...... the list never ends in India.....If this man is put by any chance behind bars, then our people will make some other as godman and go behind him. Enna sollurathu.... shame on us!"
Jemima Chrisanthi on Facebook:
ReplyDelete"The following website documentary titled, "Unreported World: God's own country" will give some insight exposing some of these crooks: http://freedocumentaries.org/int.php?filmID=309 "
Thanks, Jemima, shall watch it.