Godmen and cult leaders: India
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Revision as of 16:52, 12 August 2015
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
Controversial godmen
Godmen in controversy
Asaram Bapu
For a couple of years, self-proclaimed Godman Asaram Bapu has been in the news for only wrong reasons. He recently hit headlines with a shocking statement where he allegedly had claimed that the 23-year-old victim of infamous gangrape in Delhi could have saved herself if she had addressed her attackers as "brothers" and chanted "Saraswati Mantra". Also, in 2008, two minor boys of his Ashram in Ahmedabad were found dead in the Sabarmati riverbed two days after they mysteriously went missing from the gurukul in February 2008.
Spiritual leader Asaram Bapu was denied the bail as the prosecution lawyer claimed during the proceedings that Asaram has paedophilia, a disease which is characterized by sexual interest toward children. The spiritual guru was presented before court of the district and sessions judge.
When godman Asaram was tongawala Asumal of Ajmer
From the archives of The Times of India
Kshitiz Gaur
September 04, 2013
Self-claimed godman Asaram rode a tonga for a living for at least two years in Ajmer before reinventing himself as a spiritual man. As young Asumal, he carted pilgrims on a pony cart from the railway station to Ajmer Sharif Dargah. Others of his ilk still remember him as Asumal, the tongawala with cushion seats – most of them had wooden boards. After partition, Asumal’s father, Taumal Harpalani, had come to Gujarat from Pakistan’s Sindh. Asumal was seven and the family lived in acute poverty. He worked in different cities of Gujarat before the family came to Ajmer in 1963. Asumal lived with an uncle in the Kharikui locality. “He used to sit with the tongawalas on Kharikui Chowk and would also have haircut from a shop in the corner,” said Charan Jeet Singh Oberai, an advocate. Asumal would take passengers up to Dhanmandi at the gate of the Dargah. “He once participated in a tonga race from Ajmer to Sarwar during the annual Sarwar Urs,” said 75-year-old Heera Ustad, general secretary of the tonga union. “Much later, we came to know he had become a godman,” he said. People also said Asumal loved children and whenever he failed to get passengers he would take children out for a ride. People who knew him as Asumal never expected him to become a godman. “He was ambitious and wanted to get rich. He went back to Ahmedabad and we never heard anything about him until he became Asaram,” they said.
Baba Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh
He was charged by CBI in a rape case. The Dera chief had been charged with sexually assaulting women followers of the Dera at the sect's Sirsa-based headquarters. He had been booked under Sections 376 and 506 of the IPC. See Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Ji Insan
Baba Ramdev
Yoga guru Baba Ramdev, who now supposedly finds more interest in politics than Yoga, was under the scanner when a news channel reported numerous financial irregularities and tax evasion being practiced by his trusts. His non-profit firms are allegedly involved in activities prohibited for non-profit tax-exempt organisations in USA. In 2012, his trusts lost their exemption from payment of Income Tax and were slapped a notice of Rs 58 crore demand on the sale of their Ayurvedic medicines
A profile
The saffron-clad Baba lent his weight to BJP's election campaign by sounding the bugle of discontent against the incumbent Congress over the issue of black money and corruption.
His food supplements and medicine products empire is worth Rs.2,000 crore, operating through 5,000 big franchises and 5,000 additional small franchisees selling over 500-plus products across the country.
He continues to share a special relationship with the BJP and was one of only nine people nominated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the Clean India campaign in October 2014. Ramdev carries a low-cost 'swadeshi' Micromax mobile to go with his austere lifestyle.
Balak Brahmachari
IP Singh, December 07 2014
In 1993, followers of Balak Brahmachari in West Bengal made claims of “nirvikalap samadhi“ and kept his body on ice for 55 days.Brahmachari had died in a clinic, but his followers ignored cremation notices and pleas by government officials that his decomposing body was a health hazard. Eventually, the body had to be forcefully taken from the ashram in Sukchar, on the banks of the Hooghly , where it was being guarded by Brahmachari's Santan Dal followers.
Coincidentally , one of the key members of the police operation was an IPS officer of Punjab origin. Rachhpal Singh, who was then SP of 24 Paragnas. Doctors had certified Brahmachari's death but his followers brought the body to the Santan Dal headquarters and kept it in a room where half-a-dozen air-conditioners were fitted and the room was filled with ice. Singh says he received a tip-off about the management's plans. They were preparing his younger brother to take his place, asking him to grow his beard and hair. They would have then declared that Brahmachari had come back.“
The police knew they had to act fast, as Brahmachari's followers were distributing `charnamrit' from the melting ice on which he was kept, and was a sure health hazard. On the night of June 29, 1993, that government decided to remove the body and Singh was to lead the operation.The gate was closed with thousands of angry followers inside. They had also made preparations for mass suicide to defame the police.Except for around 10 policemen, the rest fled. According to Singh,it took the cops five hours to reach the room where Brahmachari's body was kept. They found it badly decomposed and full of maggots. Today there is not even a single follower of Balak Brahmachari and his sect has disappeared.“
Chandraswami
Nemi Chand Jain, alias Chandraswami, claimed to be a psychic, an astrologer and a faith healer. He had registered as many as nine FERA cases and the CBI has lodged a cheating case and a case for his involvement in the conspiracy to assassinate former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1996.
Jayendra Saraswati
The Kanchi math Shankaracharya, was arrested by the Tamil Nadu Police in November 2004 in connection with the murder of math's accountant. He still is an accused in the case.
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Actress Mia Farrow accused the Beatles’ friend Maharishi Mahesh Yogi of molesting her when she visited the celibate guru with the band in 1968. Apparently, he groped her in his cave. The Beatles were offended enough by their supposedly celibate friend’s libido to write a song that initially went, ‘Maharishi, what have you done/ you’ve made a fool of everyone/’ later, the words Sexy Sadie were used instead of ‘Maharishi’
Nirmal Baba
'Daswand' or the receiving of donations of one-tenth of a devotee's earning — has landed self-styled spiritual guru Nirmal Baba in trouble with a notice having been slapped on him for alleged service tax evasion of Rs 3.5 crore. The central excise department issued the notice on the grounds that 'Daswand' amounts to charging devotees attending a 'Samagam' (congregation) an entry fee for a 'service', official sources said.
Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar
The railway accounts clerk who founded the Ananda Marg, a socio-religious group, was arrested on a murder charge but was acquitted in 1978 by the Patna High Court.
Prakashanand Saraswati
The founder of the Barsana Dham Centre in Texas in 1990, was indicted on 20 counts of indecency with a child by sexual contact between 1993 and 1996. He was absconding and has been sentenced to 14 years in prison and fined USD 10,000 on each of 20 felony counts for groping girls.
Premananda or Trichy Sai Baba
He was awarded life imprisonment in 1994 for two terms on the charges of multiple criminal offences including rape and murder. Premananda was punished for raping inmates of his ashram and carrying out medical terminations of some of the consequent pregnancies with the help of a couple of associates.
Radhe Maa
See Radhe Guru Maa (Param Shradhey Mamtamai Shri)
Rampal
see Rampal Singh Jatin @ Rampal, cult leader
Sudhanshu Maharaj
In 2010, a businessman Mahaveer Prasad Mansinghka filed a complaint in the local court in Shajapur alleging that Sudhanshu Maharaj's 'Vishwa Jagriti Mission' to whom he had donated Rs 53 lakh for getting relaxation under section 80-G of the Income Tax Act was turned down by the department on the ground that the Mission had no such facility. A non-bailable warrant was also issued against the self-proclaimed godman. However, High Court's Indore Bench stayed the execution of non-bailable warrant issued against the noted saint.
Swami Bhimanand Ji
Shiv Murti Dwivedi alias Sant Swami Bhimanand Ji Maharaj Chitrakoot Wale was arrested by the Delhi Police in 2010 on charges of operating a high-profile sex racket involving former airhostesses and students
Swami Nityananda
In 2010, self-styled godman Swami Nityananda was found involved in a sex scandal after a news channel released footage showing him in a compromising position with film actress, Ranjitha. Despite the controversy, Panchayati Akhara Mahanirvani bestowed on him the title of maha-mandaleshwar in 2013.
Swami Sadachari
Once spiritual advisor and tantric of many top politicians including former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi has been in jail for running a brothel. The once-influential godman, who is believed to have performed rituals at a prime minister's residence, was nabbed only when he fell out of favour with those in power.
Syed Gulzar
A 42-year-old self-styled Sufi dervish Gulzar Ahmed Bhat was recently arrested by Jammu and Kashmir police for raping and sexually abusing several young girls at his religious centre, Khansahib in Budgam district. Gulzar Bhat, who went by the name Syed Gulzar, allegedly ran a residential institution for girls which offered short duration courses in religious studies. He is currently in jail.
Ganga Bhajan Kaur
She got nation’s attention in March 1976. With Ganga Bhajan Kaur aka Suzy Burns of California, a believer of Sikhism and kundalini yoga, the country is resounding with the strains of Gurbani Kirtan.
Pawan Diwan
He got nation’s attention in July 1977. With his bare torso, flowing hair and electrifying speech, godman Pawan Diwan, 31, has won assembly elections on a Janata Party ticket in Madhya Pradesh.
Muni Vidyanandji
He got nation’s attention March 1978. Muni Vidyanandji, a Digamber saint, has walked across the country on foot, without clothes and with exactly two possessions: a water container and a peacock fan.
Ann Schaufuss
She got media attention in May 1979. What's a jetsetting Yves St Laurent model doing in a sari and a sandalwood tika? Ann Schaufuss is not just the queen of haute couture in Paris, she is also a Hare Krishna devotee.
Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao
He got media attention in May 1983. When actors turn politicians, they barely give up their thespian habits. Andhra Pradesh CM N.T. Rama Rao is heard saying: "I am no longer the lustful and gorgeous-looking Rama Rao but a yogic CM."
The Difference Between Fake and True Gurus
The Difference Between Fake Babas & True Gurus
Yogi Ashwini The Times of India Dec 19 2014
On a TV show recently , the anchor commented, “If you are good at nothing in life become a Baba; the chances of your becoming successful and prosperous are very high.“ This seems to be the common perception! Perhaps this is so because today several self-proclaimed `babas' and `saints' take to wearing saffron, green or white. Their wardrobe, length of beard, the ailments they claim to cure you of and the crowds they pull are all taken as yardstick to gauge their Spiritual Quotient. Vulnerable devotees lavish praise, power and wealth on their professed Baba, helping set up `ashrams' in the name of elevating consciousness.
How then do we differentiate between a fly-by-night Baba and a truly evolved Guru? There are others, who, after years of rigorous tapa and sadhana, despite having achieved all that they had to in material life, take to a higher search and have interactions and exchanges with the world of energy . Such a one may not sport a beard and may live in T-shirts and track pants he may not even call himself a saint or baba. The question then arises: Who is a guru and what does one need him for?
I detail here some of the traits of a guru as mentioned in the vedas. The same may be applied universally by anyone who is looking to find a spiritual guide. The vedas say that a guru exudes radiance. He has to channelise energy , and for that purpose, his body is strong and free of disease. Whatever he says or thinks manifests, his chants have the effect of completely changing the environment of a place, diseases get cured by his gaze alone and phenomenal energy is transferred by his touch.
A true guru is in a state of vairagya or detachment from the pleasures of the physical world. He may choose to lead a life of luxury as everything is at his beck and call, but he is not attached to it. He has com attached to it. He has com plete control over the elements and the five senses. When you are in his company , you experience the same sense of detach ment within you, your thoughts and desires begin to manifest, your complete form changes, you stop falling sick and your involvement in charitable activities increases manifold.Experiences of the world of energy and subtler dimen sions follow.
The vedas clearly state that a guru is satya speaks the truth; asteya does not steal from you or country; aparigraha does not amass assets or political power; ahimsa non-violent; and brahmacharya is celibate. Such a guru does not charge you a fee or ask for physical favours in exchange for yoga, because he knows that tying of yogic sciences to maya renders them ineffective. A guru may earn his living, but does not sell knowledge of yoga.
The purpose of a guru is not to cure your illnesses or rid you of your physical problems, but to show you what lies beyond, from where all that you see around is controlled, and put you on the path of achieving that.This guru does not organise rave parties where drugs are served and does not organise social gatherings where intoxicated people dance to music. So do not go looking for a baba, go look for a guru. A baba will tie you in knots; a guru will release you from them.
See also
Godmen and cult leaders: India <> Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Ji Insan <> Rampal Singh Jatin @ Rampal, cult leader <> Radhe Guru Maa (Param Shradhey Mamtamai Shri)
