Controversial godmen

There is an endless list of great yogis, hermits and monks who have walked on the Indian soil since times immemorial and enlightened the common folk with their knowledge and the pearls of wisdom attained through years of penance. These great yogis abandoned all worldly pleasures and practiced rigorous self-discipline for years and encouraged their followers to lead an austere life, while focusing on the purification of soul. But allegation of sexual assault against religious guru Asaram Bapu has once again brought the spotlight on India’s numerous spiritual gurus and preachers. Though health, well-being and spirituality are what they all profess, some have made it to the headlines for the controversy they create, like financial irregularities, sexual abuse and, sometimes, even murder. Hyderabad Hans takes a closer look at these godmen.

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 dupatta after they cracked down on his fast against corruption. 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. 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.

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 sex education classes in schools. And AIDS cannot be prevented by talking about sex freely and by using condoms." 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.

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. 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". 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. 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. 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.

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 the other protesters had humiliated and conspired against him. 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 must 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.

His 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.

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.

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. Kanchi seer Jayendra Saraswati and his junior Vijayendra were 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.

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 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 in association with the American Society of Echocardiography, created a world record for most cardiac echo tests.

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.

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. 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. A Tehelka investigation alleged that the Dera Sacha Sauda is a den of vice and accused Baba Gurmeet Singh of rape and murder.

Sri Sri Ravishanker

It was not too long back when the revered spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, known worldwide for his Art of Living course, held the system responsible for producing Naxals. Advocating privatisation of the educational system in India, the highly revered guru said government schools were breeding grounds for Naxalism since private schools never indoctrinated such extremism.

The Art of Living founder probably didn’t realize that most students who attend government schools cannot afford highly expensive private education, and if government schools were to be closed, it would deprive millions of poor children of basic education. Incidentally, Ravi Shankar, during his visit to Jharkhand in 2009, had praised the home-grown rebels, saying they were good people and fighting against corruption and disparity.

Swami Nityananda

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 started 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 stating that Lenin had demanded money to keep the video secret. 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.