Dear Readers,
We all know that in India , there is this Godmen syndrome. A sense of blind belief , or a mass hysteria spread around an ascetic who is normally addressed as Baba or a Sadu . Among such innumerable characters both dead and living , few were indeed pious and philanthropic and set up schools, colleges and hospitals , delivered lectures on Hindu scriptures and benefited a large section of the population.
''Sadhuism" as I will call it is great business . A Baba with millions of followers is a force indeed. Armed with oratory skills and ability to win mass followers, they attracts money and power and eventually rise to be a CEO of a multi million charitable organization. But as long as they preach peace and the society benefits , I don't see any wrong doing . As a society we need religious preachers with a positive impact on our lives . But the tragedy today is on the emergence of black sheeps among those herds of religious preachers. Many of them have come to prominence by their claim of curing diseases through some mass placebo effect or by propagating some variant of yogic exercises or religious mass games . The strategy is by conducting religious congregations called satsangs which increases popularity and resultant cash flows . Behind the veil of religiosity, these fraudsters indulge in unlawful activities be it money laundering, land grabbing or sheer sexual voyeurism, all with candid support of the vested interests.
The question here is , If such religious fraudsters emerge what is the check and balance . It is here we fail as a state. Among the many such instances that are reported , the recent episode of child abuse, against a popular saint in western India named Asaram babu is a case in point. This seemingly eccentric saint is alleged to have acted like a pedophile with the police behind him now, but cautious enough, fearing political backlash of losing his million plus follower's votes in an election year. This babu is notorious to have been in the law makers records for all reasons ranging from land grabbing to mysterious deaths . But ever since ten days of framing allegations against him, the police till this time has not arrested him. This is the pathetic state of our criminal delivery system. The high and the mighty, the sadhu and politicians are always above law.
The thought here is '' where do we take this discourse further? . How do we as a society check this evangelical malice ?
Sanyasi
We all know that in India , there is this Godmen syndrome. A sense of blind belief , or a mass hysteria spread around an ascetic who is normally addressed as Baba or a Sadu . Among such innumerable characters both dead and living , few were indeed pious and philanthropic and set up schools, colleges and hospitals , delivered lectures on Hindu scriptures and benefited a large section of the population.
''Sadhuism" as I will call it is great business . A Baba with millions of followers is a force indeed. Armed with oratory skills and ability to win mass followers, they attracts money and power and eventually rise to be a CEO of a multi million charitable organization. But as long as they preach peace and the society benefits , I don't see any wrong doing . As a society we need religious preachers with a positive impact on our lives . But the tragedy today is on the emergence of black sheeps among those herds of religious preachers. Many of them have come to prominence by their claim of curing diseases through some mass placebo effect or by propagating some variant of yogic exercises or religious mass games . The strategy is by conducting religious congregations called satsangs which increases popularity and resultant cash flows . Behind the veil of religiosity, these fraudsters indulge in unlawful activities be it money laundering, land grabbing or sheer sexual voyeurism, all with candid support of the vested interests.
The question here is , If such religious fraudsters emerge what is the check and balance . It is here we fail as a state. Among the many such instances that are reported , the recent episode of child abuse, against a popular saint in western India named Asaram babu is a case in point. This seemingly eccentric saint is alleged to have acted like a pedophile with the police behind him now, but cautious enough, fearing political backlash of losing his million plus follower's votes in an election year. This babu is notorious to have been in the law makers records for all reasons ranging from land grabbing to mysterious deaths . But ever since ten days of framing allegations against him, the police till this time has not arrested him. This is the pathetic state of our criminal delivery system. The high and the mighty, the sadhu and politicians are always above law.
The thought here is '' where do we take this discourse further? . How do we as a society check this evangelical malice ?
Sanyasi
