God, No

Bhole Baba” has magical powers. So believe his sea of followers, who blindly worship him. For them, he is god. Catching a glimpse of him, or collecting the dust from the path he walks on, and applying it to their foreheads — makes all their problems ‘vanish!’

But 48 hours ago, “Bhole Baba” did a ‘Yamraj’ — snuffing out 121 lives and leaving many more injured in a stampede at Hathras, Uttar Pradesh. Baba, whose original name is Suraj Pal a.k.a Narayan Saakar Hari has vanished without a trace.

India is not new to the “miracles” by self styled godmen, whose numbers have been increasing with each passing day. While there is no stopping them, the foolhardiness of their “shishyas” — time and again — is just bizarre. What is it that impairs their reasoning when it comes to these “miracle men” in whom they have complete blind faith?

Rationality missing

Novelist, public speaker, columnist and screen writer Anand Neelakantan says critical thinking and rationality is missing in the society. “Since childhood, parents teach kids to have blind faith in god and and gurus.

So all people grow up with this kind of mentality, especially since the Bhakti movement started in India,” he says.

When there is distress in life or when people find themselves in crises, be it financial, relationships or other kinds of personal hardships, they look up to such babas, who are criminals under the garb of religion, feels Anand.

Each of these Babas have segmented the market exactly the way they want, he says. “Some speak excellent English and push pseudo-scientific theory which may appear something exotic and very rational and scientific at the same time. So there are babas who cater to the rich urban class and the other is for the uneducated rural people who look for miracles,” says Anand.

Change must begin at home

Parents need to teach their children not to accept anything on face value whether it is told by the politicians or by some babas/gurus. “Buddha’s words are very relevant in this context. He said don’t believe in anything just because it is written in some book or holy scriptures, or simply because elders have told you to. There has to be rational questioning, explains Anand.

“Unless we teach these babas a lesson, they will continue to flourish and cheat people and get rich. These self styled godmen are there in all religions because basically, the human nature is the same,” says Anand, adding that the same holds good for politicians, whom people follow blindly.

Greedy and the greedier

Past life regression therapist Dr Trupti Jayin feels the moot question is who are these common people who are being attracted to these fraudulent people who call themselves as Gurus?

“Will a Vivekanand or Yogananda be found among these people who go to such babas’ No! Those who use Vivek buddhi will never be attracted towards such godmen. Those who are only thinking of materialistic gains, profit and richness or are desperately looking for magical solutions which these godmen promises,” says Dr Trupti of SETU organisation.

A fool will find a fool whereas a wise man will find Hermit, she says.

“Greed is at the source of all evil. The babas are greedy and the followers greedier. They both share similar karma and so will destroy each other,” says up Dr Trupti.

She feels each human being has to read the right scripture, search for the right guru, who will remove your darkness or at least give you understanding of darkness or ignorance which is the cause of suffering’ and equip yourself with meditation.

“Sadhana, Sankalp and Samatvam are the keys to living a better life,” adds Dr Trupti.

Helpless, Hopeless

Multilingual writer, director and theatre producer and translator Bhushan Korgaonkar says the main reason why people follow self styled godmen is because they feel helpless and hopeless in their lives. “When people don’t have anyone to talk to, it is here that the godman steps in — such babas are seen as having super powers,” he says.

Bhushan says people from all walks of life fall prey to such godmen. “Be it salaried class, self employed or those running large business houses, everyone is running behind these babas. For people who are otherwise sane, god is a very vague concept so a human becomes more relatable. Even for worships of gods, people need middlemen in the form of priests,” says Bhushan.

Lack of justifiable ‘reason’ for a happening or non happening of a particular event confuses people. “This prompts them to resort to things like religion and godmen. Randomness is not an easy thing to digest,” he adds.

Following the Hathras stampede, the Congress has called for a law to curb influence of fake godmen. “Whether the government wants to stop this menace through laws or not remains to be seen as such people are potential vote banks,” says Anand Neelakantan.

Infamous Godmen

Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, a self-appointed guru with a large following in Punjab and Haryana, was charged with several offences. He was convicted of rape by a court in 2017.

Asaram Bapu was convicted for the rape of a minor. Prior to his arrest, he had a sea of supporters, who worshipped him. He is serving life sentence in Jodhpur jail.

Controversial godman Nithyananda was accused of rape and a non bailable warrant issued against him. He fled the country and lives in his ashram in a location he calls “Kailasa.”

Swami Premananda of Tiruchirapally ashram was accused of raping 13 women and accused of having killed a Sri Lankan male. Medical tests confirmed the habitual rape of 13 girls.

Will a Vivekanand or Yogananda be found among these people who go to such babas’ No! Those who use Vivek buddhi will never be attracted towards such godmen. Those who are only thinking of materialistic gains, profit and richness or are desperately looking for magical solutions which these godmen promises. A fool will find a Fool whereas a wise man will find Hermit.” — Dr Trupti Jayin

Since childhood, parents teach kids to have blind faith in god and gurus. So all people grow up with this kind of mentality. Each of these Babas have segmented the market exactly the way they want. Some speak excellent English and push pseudo-scientific theory which may appear exotic, very rational and scientific at the same time. Unless we teach these babas a lesson, they will continue to flourish and cheat people and get rich. These self styled godmen are there in all religions because basically, the human nature is the same.” — Anand Neelakantan

Famous American author Ron Hubbard once remarked sarcastically, “If you want to get rich, you start a religion.” A few years later Hubbard started a religion of his own ‘Church of Scientology’ which had lakhs of followers including evangelists evangelists Tom Cruise and John Travolta.