yes, really sad - there are hundreds of beautiful temples around - where one can really experience peace of mind and communion with god ( who ever he might be) - people do not venture there, even if they do they spend a few minutes and drop a few coins. yet the same guys spend thousands on these god men.
its really sad, that this will be used to show Hinduism in poor light.
let us not jump to conclusions.. let the "real facts" come out...
till then let us keep our fingers crossed...
the tape shows an act with the connivance of both the people.. there is no scandal involved per se in this..
it can be argued that even adisankara had to resort to certain acts similar to these to win kumarila bhattar.. now i dont equate adisankara with him.. just for an information sake...
now the only argument can be how can a person professing to be a "brahmachari saint" involve in these acts..
let us now examine this further as there are lot of questions that can come up..
by the way how did the tape leak???
was it planned earlier??
the tape shows some tablets/ medicines/legyam given to Mr. Nithyananda... what for??? was he without his knowledge influenced through these??? or was he given the tablets/leghyam even earlier and then recorded these when he was under their influence???
by the way is the media justified by bringing this to our drawing rooms.. the moral responsibility of the media is to give a warning that these acts may be unsuitable for viewing by the children ... was it followed when they were telecast???
is the action of repeatedly showing of these explicit scenes and creating a sensation by flashing news justified??
if both were involved in the incident, why was the actress blacked out?? doesnt this resemble a malicious propaganda by someone with vested interests???
please note that iam not a supporter / follower of the "swamiji".. yes i would still call him a swamiji till he is convicted...
please remember , that ISRO sex scandal where media went overboard in showcasing the scientist (dont want to name him here)as an offender and when the scientist was acquitted, the same media did not even whimper about it.. and the scientist after acquittal was reinstated in his job with ISRO..
so my contention is please do not jump to conclusions .. media's work is to sensationalise, while it is the jurisprudence which needs to give a judgement, if at all this can be called a scandal..
All media ran hyped articles of these swamijis. They thought that traditional swamijis are old fashioned.
respect our traditional mutts.
There is an article by Kanchi mahaswami in deivathin kural vol 6.
He says that he should not be addressed as Paramacharya. He said that the title "Paramacharya" is reserved for our adheenams and only they should be addressed as Paramacharya.
as i pointed out, nobody knows the real thing sir..
as stated in my earlier mail, he would have been influenced by drugs, which would have been administered to him without his knowledge...
the video shows some pills/leghyam given to him.. that may be in continuation of the drugs administered to him earlier without his knowledge...
the footage of him takingthe pill would have included to show that he is taking "performance enhancement " drugs..to create a false impression..
iam not telling that he is beyond doubt.. iam telling that these are the possibilities also and before casting anything on him let us wait for the truth and also his reply..
and please for godsake (not godmen sake) do not got by media expose alone...
many are simply done for publicity and money like paid media coverage during elections which the apex body of the press has condemned and is trying to evolve a code to prevent further happennings like that..
if india loses a cricket match, the channels create such hoopla as if it is a national shame...
so let some calm prevail sir...
Pleas note that iam not blaming the entire media.. lot of good things have happenned through media expose only....
A million dollar question, which Dhiwakar also raised.
If the 'swami' has been exposed, why should the actress be masked?? Why didnt the media reveal her? Isnt this a bias? If HE is wrong, then SHE is also equally wrong. why this partiality?
Only god can save us....lets hope 'satyameva jeyate'.
Sun TV is clever. When Dinamalar published photos and names of actors involved in a similar scandal, its office was attacked, staff arrested and and the entire film fraternity (Rajni, surya, vivek and the rest) showered Dinamalar with choicest abuses. Now, since the actress is 'faced out', the all powerful film club has to keep quiet. Anyway both sun tv and the producers/actors need each other. Now, Dinamalar is taunting film stars to go for sun tv. Will they?Sampath
Not sure how many of you got a chance to read Writer Jeyamohan's excellent article on this issue... He clearly says "His followers are not going to change their stand just because of this incident, in a way their belief may get strengthened. They will agree that the incident is one of the leelai" which is very true.
A true spiritualist is a sannyasi. People have to understand the difference between spirituality and mystic yoga (ashtaanga yoga or 8 siddhis -- anima, mahima, lahima etc that gives great powers. being heavier than heaviest, lighter than the lightest, controlling others, manifesting things etc).
Many equate these powers to spirituality and get cheated in the end. As long as such people are there, the cheaters will be there. Unfortunately such false sannyasis tarnish the sannyas. There are pure sannyasis even today practicing love & devotion to God and educating others on the same in their gentle, compassionate way.
Also there's a big misconception that a spiritualist should be renounced and a sannyasi. Every one can be a spiritualist. A sannyasi should be renounced and shouldn't meddle with politics and such mundane material stuff.
Also Occupied portions of Holy Tiruvannamalai hill.
Now in Andhra another ( avatar of Vishnu) is under news.
Many Holy men have told this - "In Kaliyug Believe in God. If God feels that you require a Guru, He will send that Guru to You."
I will only blame the Sishyas. These People Go to Gurus not for realisation. Theygo for solutions.
Earlier we were clearly told by our Gurus that our sufferings are due to our Bad Karma and they advised us to do good karama and pray to God.
These Corporate Holy men offer you "instant Nirvana" by taking money.
Now everywhere i see posters of small and big corporate swamijis, Holy men offering instant relief./Instant commune wih God/ Instant realisation of God.
SPS-sir It is very sad because it really leaves a stain on the entire spiritual tradition. Every swamiji/guru will be viewed with a suspicious eye by the children who are watching this news.
However, while this is a despicable situation, such cases are neither restricted to India/hinduism nor to this time period.
Inspite of having a central authority, we have all been hearing about the rampant scandals in the Catholic church. Those scandals can be called even worse than this one between adults since they involved kids. "veshadari sannyasis"/"rudraksha poonais" are all old terms.
While it is admirable that people want to go on the spiritual path, the challenge is to ensure people are able to distinguish the true gurus from the phony. We see people (even well-educated ones) being swept away in this herd mentality rather than truly trying to find about the guru and their philosophy.
One rule of thumb I have is not to join any "cult" where 1 saint/person becomes more important than any philosophy/message. In the case of gurus like Ramana/Ramakrishna/ Chinmayanandha /Aurobindo/ Sri Sri Ravi shankar et al, their message/philosophy is of importance and there is very limited deification of the gurus themselves (of course, we remember/respect them). I regularly attend Chinmaya mission, but apart from his photo in the ashram and celebrating his birthday, there is no mention of him. Instead, we study/discuss his commentaries on Geetha/Bhaja govindam/Tattva bodha, etc.
In this case, you can either agree with the message or take parts of it. Even if the person ends up having weaknesses, the message is still valid (like Osho - I have lot of admiration for his scholarship/books inspite of all the scandals)
In other cases, the leader/guru is deified to a extreme extent. People are more focused on praying to the guru rather than understanding his/her message (if he/she has a message at all). This is where the gurus may start exploiting their "powerful" status and even try to improve their "power" position by performing miracles, etc.
Just my humble opinion.. I don't mean to hurt anybody's sentiments. Deepa
This article by Kanchi Mahaswami - he asks the sishyas to develop their knowledge so that the Guru necessarily needs to be more knowledgable. Like yata sishya, tata guru.