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India's 10 most Controversial gurus
The controversy over Sant Rampal and his army of followers taking the
law into their hands has once again thrown the spotlight on the clout that
India's godmen possess.
Sant Rampal, as he is called by his followers set up Satlok Ashram in 1999
after he came in contact with a seer named Ramdevanand. Soon, he had a number of
followers and began opening ashrams all over Haryana.
The 63-year-old engineer, today, owns a fleet of luxury cars, and lives in an
ashram in Barwala, Haryana, spread over a sprawling 12 acres.
His legal woes began in 2006 when he clashed with supporters of Arya Samaj
founder Swami Dayanand Saraswati, which led to the death of one person.
Since then, Rampal, who faces contempt of court, murder and attempt to murder
cases in various courts, has skipped hearings 42 times.
Rampal is said to have over 25 lakh followers in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh,
Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Delhi and has his own Facebook and YouTube
page too, with a huge fan following.
For the last 10 days, Rampal’s ashram has witnessed violent clashes as his
supporters have been refusing the police entry into the guarded fortress, which
also led to the deaths of six devotees.
Asaram Bapu
Born in Sind in undivided India, today
Asaram Bapu has over 425 ashrams and more than 50 gurukuls all over, and a
tremendous following both in India and aboard.
Spirituality aside, he has also been courting controversy.
Controversies:
1: Last week Asaram Bapu was accused of sexually abusing a 16-year-old girl
at his Jodhpur ashram even as her mother was waiting outside. He was served a
summons in the case by the Jodhpur police at his ashram in Indore. The police
had earlier served a summons to his officials at his Ahmedabad ashram. The
godman claimed he was innocent and regards the minor as his "daughter".
2: Commenting on the December 16 Delhi gang rape incident, Asaram suggested
that the victim was equally responsible for the crime. He said the girl could
have called her assailants brothers and begged them to stop. His comments
invited sharp criticism from across the political spectrum and from women's
activists.
3: The ministry of corporate affairs said it had received complaints against
him and his son in an alleged 700-acre land-grabbing case and the serious frauds
investigation office is looking into the matter.
4: Asaram and his son were also investigated in the mysterious deaths of two
boys whose decomposed bodies were found from the banks of Sabarmati River near
his ashram in 2008.
Swami Nithyananda
Popular for his spiritual discourses and
meditation programmes, Swami Nithyananda was named as one of the 100 most
spiritually influential living people in the world by Watkins’Mind Body
Spirit magazine.
He claims to be the most-watched spiritual teacher on YouTube.com with more than 14
million views, and the author of more than 300 books published in 27
languages.
Controversies:
1: Nithyananda landed in a controversy after a purported video footage
showing him in a compromising position with an actress was telecast by local TV
channels. Nithyananda said the video was morphed and manipulated to misrepresent
his personal life but did not deny his images with actress Ranjita in the
film.
The video aired on Tamil TV channels caused a furore, with some Hindu groups
and others protesting against Nithyananda. The Karnataka government too promised
"very strict" action against him.
Lenin Karuppan, who had exposed the alleged sex scandal, was arrested after a
complaint by the manager of Nithyananda's ashram that Lenin had demanded money
to keep the video secret.
2: Swami Nithyananda was also accused of rape by Indian-born American
citizen, Arthi Rao, in June 2012. Rao went on Indian television accusing
Nithyananda of raping her for several years. Nithyananda again denied the
allegations.
Baba Ramdev
Baba Ramdev is best known for
popularising yoga and has been very vocal about political issues in the
country.
Who can forget the Delhi government’s crackdown on his agitation at the
Ramlila maidan in June 2011, where the baba tried to hoodwink the police by
wearing salwar kameez and dupattaafter they cracked down on
the fast against corruption.
Controversies:
1: Tehelka magazine had reported financial irregularities and tax
evasion by Ramdev's trusts. Irregularities included sales tax evasion, forceful
land grab from farmers and stealing of electricity by using agricultural
connection for commercial use.
2: Senior leader of the Communist Party of India-Marxist Brinda Karat accused
the Divya Pharmacy, owned by Ramdev's Divya Yog Mandir Trust, of using human and
animal bones in their medicines.
3: The yoga guru has claimed that regular practice pranayama popularised by
him has successfully 'cured' cancer within six to nine months. Cancer of the
breast, liver, prostate, uterus, pituitary gland, brain tumour and even
leukaemia, can be cured by practising the breathing exercises, he claimed.
4: Ramdev has suggested that yoga was the way to prevent and cure AIDS. "We
will prove through clinical tests that yoga can cure AIDS. We will offer the
cure shortly, in the next couple of years," Ramdev had said.
"Sex education in schools need to be replaced by yoga education," Ramdev also
told reporters. "The government should stop polluting the minds of innocent
young children with sex education. Society's morality cannot improve with
teaching sex education in schools. And AIDS cannot be prevented by talking free
sex and by using condoms."
5: Ramdev has contended that homosexuality is a disease that is curable
through yogic practices. "It can be treated like any other congenital defect.
Such tendencies can be treated by yoga, pranayama and other meditation
techniques," he said in a petition to the court.
Swami Agnivesh
An Arya Samaj scholar and social activist, Swami
Agnivesh is a former member of legislative assembly from Haryana. In 2011,
Agnivesh spent three days inside the Bigg Boss house as a guest, to
"use this opportunity to promote and create awareness on social issues including
corruption".
Agnivesh joined ‘Team Anna Hazare’ in the anti-corruption protests in August
2011. However, he broke away from the main group claiming that other protesters
humiliated and conspired against him.
Controversy:
1: Swami Agnivesh came under attack during the August 2011 anti-corruption
protests over a controversial video posted on YouTube where he is
purportedly telling a person alleged to be a Union minister that the government
act tough with the fasting Gandhian (Anna Hazare).
Agnivesh on his part claimed the video footage was "doctored and concocted"
and part of a smear campaign against him. He denied talking to Union Minister
Kapil Sibal who was involved in negotiations during the initial stages of the
stand-off between Team Anna and the government.
2: Swami Agnivesh’s unexceptionable statement that he supported the entry of
non-Hindus into the Jagannath Temple at Puri, however raised the hackles of
Hindu priests. Priests of the temple condemned his remarks as ‘purely anti-Hindu
in nature’ and burned his effigy.
3: Agnivesh, during a trip to Jammu, had allegedly said that he "does not
understand why people go" for Amarnath yatra and such pilgrimages and had termed
the "Shivlingam" that forms inside the Amarnath cave shrine a geographical
phenomenon. The Supreme Court condemned Agnivesh for hurting the sentiments of
Hindus. “You cannot take sentiments of the people for granted," the bench said,
noting that a large number of people go on Amarnath yatra every
year.
Rajneesh
Considered one
of the most controversial spiritual leaders to have emerged from India during
the 20th century, Rajneesh or Osho was outspoken in his criticism of socialism,
Mahatma Gandhi and institutionalised religion.
He advocated a more open attitude towards sexuality, which earned him the
sobriquet of "sex guru".
Rajneesh discouraged marriage and having children. He saw families as prone
to dysfunction. His communes in Oregon and England accepted contraception,
sterilisation, and abortion.
A former personal secretary, Ma Anand Sheela, of the controversial spiritual
guru in a bare-all memoir said that “Osho Rajneesh disregarded all laws, ethics
and legalities as he wanted to create a society of his own vision with its own
laws and rules.” Rajneesh had once, out of the blue, demanded to get him 30 new
Rolls-Royces within one month in spite of already possessing 96 brand new
Rolls-Royces.
The 1984 Rajneeshee bioterror attack was the first bioterrorist attack in
United States history. Around 751 individuals were poisoned through the
deliberate contamination of salad bars at ten local restaurants in Oregon
with salmonella.
The attack was orchestrated by followers of Rajneesh to rig the election so
that their own candidates would win the 1984 Wasco County elections.
In 1985 high-ranking followers of Rajneesh hatched a conspiracy to
assassinate then United States Attorney for the District of Oregon Charles
Turner. However, the plot was never carried out and was only discovered later
during investigations into the bioterror attack and other illegal acts by the
Rajneeshpuram leadership.
Popular Bollywood personalities who were part of the Rajneesh movement
include Parveen Babi, who joined the movement in mid-1970s along with her
boyfriend, producer Mahesh Bhatt.
Film star Vinod Khanna became a sannyasin on December 31, 1975, and
received the name Swami Vinod Bharti. He was Osho's gardener at
Rajneeshpuram.
Controversies:
1: Increased criticism of his activities at the Pune ashram in 1981 and
threats of punitive action by authorities led Rajneesh to move to the United
States. However, his Oregon commune collapsed in 1985 when Rajneesh revealed
that the commune leadership had committed serious crimes. He was charged with
immigration violations and deported.
2: At the Second World Hindu Conference in 1969 he came under criticism when
he claimed "any religion which considers life meaningless and full of misery,
and teaches the hatred of life, is not a true religion. Religion is an art that
shows how to enjoy life."
3: Not only was his therapies questioned, there were allegations of drug use
among sannyasins.
Chandraswami
His association with former Prime
Minister PV Narasimha Rao brought Chandraswami -- the
controversial tantrik -- into prominence.
Interestingly, the godman’s finances have fluctuated with his political
fortunes.
Controversies:
1: Chandraswami has been accused of several financial irregularities and was
ordered by the Supreme Court to pay a penalty in several Foreign Exchange
Management Act violation cases registered by the enforcement directorate. The ED
has imposed a total penalty of Rs 9 crore (approx) on Chandraswami in 13 cases
of Foreign Exchange Regulation Act violations for acquiring foreign exchange in
contravention of the Act.
2: In 1996, he was arrested on charges of defrauding a London-based
businessman of $100,000.
3: The CBI has been investigating the suspected role of the self-styled
godman in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. The Jain Commission dedicated a
volume to his alleged involvement in the assassination. The Enforcement
Directorate is still investigating his alleged role as financier in the
killing.
Jayendra Saraswati
Jayendra Saraswati is the sixty-ninth
Shankaracharya of the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham. Keeping with the Shankaracharya's
oft-expressed concerns the Jayalalithaa government in Tamil Nadu enacted a law
to ban religious conversions and enforced a ban on animal sacrifice in
temples.
The Shankaracharya attracted controversy when he left his mutt in 1987 during
the Chaturmasya vrata and was not traceable for a few weeks.
Controversies:
1: Kanchi seer Jayendra Saraswati and his junior Vijayendra are the prime
accused in the murder of Sankararaman, the manager of the Varadarajaperumal
temple at Kanchipuram, in September 3, 2004.
The two seers have been charged under IPC sections for criminal conspiracy
and murder. The trial in the case was shifted to Puducherry from Chengalpattu by
an order of the Supreme Court on a petition Jayendra had filed before it on
October 25, 2005.
2: Another 'attempt-to-murder' case was filed by an auditor, Radhakrishnan,
in Chennai. He alleged that Jayendra Saraswathi sent goons to his house to kill
him because he had questioned the missing 83 kg of gold meant for the Kamakshi
temple at Kanchipuram.
Gurmeet Ram Rahim
Leader of the Dera Sacha Sauda, a
socio-spiritual orgnisation, Gurmeet Ram Rahim has led his organisation to
several Guinness World Records.
The Dera Sacha Sauda head was in the news recently for announcing that that
nearly 1,500 followers of the sect were ready to marry the Uttarakhand women who
lost their husbands in the flash floods and landslides that struck the hill
state.
The spiritual leader and preacher has, in association with the American
Society of Echocardiography, created a world record for most cardiac echo
tests.
Controversies:
1: Public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam submitted that during the visit of Dera
Sacha Sauda chief Baba Gurmit Ram Rahim Singh on June 25, 2008, his personal
bodyguards had allegedly fired at a crowd at Nirmal Lifestyle mall in suburban
Mulund, Mumbai, in which Balkar Singh, a Sikh, was killed. Citing lack of
evidence, a fast track court acquitted 14 volunteers of Dera Sacha Sauda, in the
case.
2: The Dera Sacha Sauda chief set off a controversy when he appeared in
attire similar to the one worn by the tenth Sikh guru, Guru Gobind Singh, and
distributed amrit (nectar) to his followers at his Dera in Sirsa.
3: The Punjab and Haryana high court issued a notice of motion to the Dera
Sacha Sauda head Gurmit Ram Rahim Singh of Sirsa seeking explanation for the
allegations made against him by his follower for sexually exploiting his
wife.
4: A Tehelka investigation alleged that the Dera Sacha Sauda is a
den of vice and accused Baba Gurmeet Singh of rape and murder.
Sathya Sai Baba
The list will remain incomplete without
a mention of Sathya Sai Baba of Puttaparthi, probably the most famous guru with
millions of followers across 126 countries.
Often regarded as ‘Bhagwan’, Sathya Sai Baba, who passed away in 2011, ruled
the hearts of his devotees through many social service endeavours like building
multi-specialty hospitals providing free treatment, schools and colleges among
others.
However, his life and times were also marked by several serious controversies
involving allegations of faking ‘miracles’, sexual abuse and even pedophilia --
all of them vociferously refuted by his followers.
Sai Baba has often been charged, both nationally and internationally, over
the veracity of his ‘miracles’ -- be it producing holy ash or vibhuti, gold
ornaments and rings from thin air -- by his critics. Skeptics and rationalists
have alleged from time to time that his miracles ‘were simple magic tricks to
woo his devotees’. Nevertheless, such allegations, although never taken on
directly by the Baba, have not dented the faith of his followers.
There have also been allegations, sometimes by former followers, that Sai
Baba used to indulge in sexual abuses and pedophilia. However, the allegations
have never been proven.
The biggest ever controversy to have haunted Sathya Sai Baba’s Puttaparthy
ashram Prashanti Nilayam was on June 6 1993, when four persons were shot dead by
the police after they had allegedly stabbed four devotees in Baba's bedroom,
killing two and serious injuring the other two.
There also have been allegations of misappropriation of funds in the name of
donations in running the Rs 40,000 crore Sathya Sai Baba trust. Moreover, even
after the Baba’s demise, trustees found cash of Rs 11.5 crore, 98 kg of gold and
silver articles weighing 307 kilograms from his private room, which again raised
eyebrows. The money and valuables took 36 hours to be counted.
E-Mail: birendrathink.gmail.com
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