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Why is Nithyananda always in controversy but still have huge following?

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On frequent intervals a spiritual leader Swami Nithyananda is in controversy, he is accused of many things. As the news goes viral, he gathers followers but haters still find reasons to clutch him. I am not endorsing him, but amused to see the developments around. Some say the depressed atheists in Tamil Nadu and other places are angry with his strong support of theism and bringing joy and bliss into the lives of millions through the revival of Vedic Tradition and Sciences. Fanatics from other religions hate him for the same reason. Some politicians are upset that millions flock to him on their own while they have to spend crores of rupees to bribe people to attend their meetings. Other believes that the media projects him as self-styled God man, despite the fact that he is a traditionally raised Adi Shaivite initiated by multiple Sampradayas into Sannyas, whose slogan is, “I am not here to prove I am God; I am here to prove YOU are God.”. Well, many attack on him because other than the sex scandal, him being a borderline flat earther, him just picking random words from the dictionary mixing them with totally un related scientific formulae and just preaching absolutely unrelated jargon to his already misinformed audience, him claiming to be an enlightened one who wears a golden crown. Human beings can go to any extent to shrink away from their responsibility and take accountability for their lives. They can hate or love anyone, look at Asaram Bapu, the rape convict spiritual leader, he is languishing in jail for years. Judiciary, authorities and politicians have turned blind on him, but he has a huge fan following. They still believe he is living God for them. Understanding the beliefs of disciples about their Guru or spiritual leaders is very difficult.

People can leave no stone unturned in the search for short cuts to find solutions to the challenges which cross their life path. Search for Gurus or religious movement and faiths is the result of this human tendency to find easy and simple solutions in their search for a happy, healthy lives period. One of perceived ways to run away from personal responsibilities is to stay in Ashrams in the name of finding inner peace. Nithyananda followers follow him due to their own reasons of getting their wishes fulfilled or to be seen as religious persons or to get secret mantra to get free pass to moksha or some awakenings. Faith becomes blind when reality cannot be seen with bodily eyes. Human tendency to look for easy and comfortable answers to the life’s questions/challenges and to seek fulfillment of almost all desires, makes them visit religious places and all Gurus. Some of these Gurus add value to lives and some stumble. Whenever faced with tough situations in life, humans will not look towards self or trust themselves but will always turn to God or their representatives called priests or Gurus or other resourceful people to find solutions to their problems. Trust me not all followers pray or worship any Guru or God to gain enlightenment or to live a pious life, they do it to have their wishes fulfilled through some blessings of either God or some guru. People follow gurus not because of their extreme love or respect or attachment for religious teachers but they do it because of their own attachment to their own selfish goals which they want fulfilled through some “easy mantra by chanting their wishes will be fulfilled” or for their blessing or some other religious practice following/doing which will bring them closer to their goals.

Prince Siddhartha changed many Gurus during his, search for truth. He provided every solution his gurus told him but he did not find enlightenment. He fasted for months. He was emaciated. His back and stomach became one. One day while he was taking bath in river he was swept away; he was so weak that he could not fight waves. Somehow by holding on to the root of a tree he came out of river. He then thought what did I get out of following gurus. Then he decided that from now onwards he will go in search of himself. Do we really find such spiritual personalities these days? Most of them are in costly mulmul silk clothes, with air-conditioned ambiences, modern techniques with music and sound effects to their speeches, fancy dresses and video recordings. The spirituality became glossy these days. Socrates never had any Guru. Did Mahavir stop wearing clothes because some Gurus advised him? These enlightened being become enlightened when they became thirsty for answers to their lives. Those were gurus without lavishes and they had much more to give, on the other hand, these days Gurus are here to receive as much as they can grab. Tell me how many people have easy access to Nithyananda, if he is spiritual leader why he has to be so scared to meet people? Why the rates are fixed to meet him or seek his Darshan? There are so many Gurus in India, it is not about Nithyananda it is about Indian culture. It’s we who made them so big.

Indians are lethargic people who look towards Gurus as gods without finding the very Godly elements in them. All these Gurus have their staunch supporters to protect them in every situation because the ashram and that Guru becomes their way of living. Nithyananda accepts and allows service of innocent people when he himself does not serve or follow any Guru. Where is renunciation? Wearing saffron robes is not renunciation. It is only show business. His followers or himself cannot cite who is his Guru. Sometimes they say he does not need a Guru and sometimes they say he has three Gurus. They are confused and confuse the other innocent people. How far it is correct to charge money for spiritual practices? So, he is for the rich not for the poor? Flowery, favourable and flattering speech with sounds of drums in the background is not knowledge. Truth is always bitter. Only the wise can swallow it. Lust, anger, greed, attachment, etc. are required to be shunned by a real saint at a distance. He is always in some or the other controversy, but his followers fail to understand the wisdom that there cannot be smoke without fire. Having huge following of blind followers cannot turn falsehood into truth. If someone asks for money or donations, he or she is not a Guru but a scrounger. It proves he is a victim of greed. Even today when the controversy is surrounded for holding grown up girls in Ashram, he kept silent and his disciples circulated videos in explanation. Was it very difficult to meet the parents and have word with them? Was it that difficult to face the situation and come clean? Was it that difficult to comment on the same? Was it that difficult to let the girls face their parents? Well! I also blame those parents who chose to send their children to ashram than educating them in normal schools. Conditioning the young minds is very easy if parents let go their children out of their custody and relay on others to make their children’s fate. Hope one day he faces me to answer all that I have in mind, as a citizen of this nation as practising Hindu.


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Vaidehi Taman
Vaidehi Tamanhttps://authorvaidehi.com
Vaidehi Taman an Accredited Journalist from Maharashtra is bestowed with three Honourary Doctorate in Journalism. Vaidehi has been an active journalist for the past 21 years, and is also the founding editor of an English daily tabloid – Afternoon Voice, a Marathi web portal – Mumbai Manoos, and The Democracy digital video news portal is her brain child. Vaidehi has three books in her name, "Sikhism vs Sickism", "Life Beyond Complications" and "Vedanti". She is an EC Council Certified Ethical Hacker, OSCP offensive securities, Certified Security Analyst and Licensed Penetration Tester that caters to her freelance jobs.
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