Men and Godmen

G Ramakrishna

India, like many other countries, has produced luminaries of great repute. They have blazed the path of their successors. The illumination that they have provided has been a beacon of light for many a pathfinder. 

Every age has its own 'prophets' who, through their identification with the struggling people and consciousness for a change, have worked along the path of emancipation of the people. They have professed that there is no shortcut to salvation either of the individual or of the people as a whole. The rigours and the challenges must be faced before one realizes the pleasing and glorious objective.

The arduousness of the path and the dreamy quality of the mind might, however, occasionally make one averse to facing the challenges vigorously and boldly. This may lead to different forms of escapism and romanticism. Subjectivism and susceptibility to hallucinations also flow from this. Illusory notions of godmen are one of the manifestations of this irrational outlook.

Wittingly or otherwise, both the alleged godmen and their votaries bring fine grist to the huge mill of the exploitative machinery and perpetuate the evils of the class system. The tragic aspect of it all is that they persuade others to believe that any disgusting phenomenon could be sold as wholesome provide that the garb of spiritualism is used to mask the ugliness of the said phenomenon. The monopoly press and their proprietors are only too gleeful when they find some stuff which answers to this need.

The above observation is relevant in the context of the recent publication of a series of articles by the agents and spokesmen of an alleged godman in our country. It is interesting to note that India has the unique distinction of being infested with the maximum number of these godmen. Not to be accused of discrimination on the basis of sex, we have a good sprinkling of godwomen also. Whether these godmen and godwomen are also good men and women is beside the point, for they have declared in no uncertain terms that any such analysis of their personalities is only foolhardy, and only the arrogant attempt it.

After the Bangalore University initiated a programme of investigating the alleged miracles performed by some godmen who, incidentally, abound in the State of Karnataka, there has been a wild fire raging on behalf of one of hem, namely Sai Baba. The Brindavan, where the Baba lives while in Bangalore, is the abode where congregations of demonstrative and dubious natures take place. It is blessed with the presence of the divine Baba and those who like to bask in the sunshine of the Baba’s presence. Quite harmless as far as that. But the tall claims and the stunting of the sharp weapon of the people’s struggles that are planned and executed there from make us apprehensive.

The coterie which gathers around the Baba consists of heavily paid scientists of the country, who learn their science at the fee of the Baba, ignoring the fundamentals they might have learnt earlier (and also oblivious of the fact that they are being paid out of the public exchequer), top executives of the administration, a few public servants called Ministers, retired and serving educationists, and the mentors of all these, namely, the enterprising industrialists, monopolists, landlords, stooges who serve the imperialist machinations, and the immediate henchmen of all these. That is the real danger of the godman called Baba, although the devotees of the Baba may not recognize this ramification.

Nor do the innocent investigators of the alleged miracles of the Baba seem to recognize this. The manner in which the superstructure is being fortified for making the base of the most heinous variety of exploitation in our country stable at least for the time being is several times forgotten by even some well-meaning critics of the Baba and his ism which is ardently publicized by such stalwarts like Dr. V.K.Gokak, former Vice-Chancellor of the Bangalore University.

Dr. Gokak is an oxford product, eminent professor of English, Ex-director of the Central Institute of English, reputed literary critic and also a poet, exponent of Aurobindo, admirer of Coleridge, and ever so many other things. But he is now best describved as the disciple of the Baba. All his scholarship is utilized to ‘justify the way of the Baba to man’.

His second in this role is Dr. S.Bhagavantam, formerly connected with India’s Defence in an important capacity. A few other incumbents of the Indian Institute of Science holding very responsible positions are close to the Baba brotherhood.

Baba has devotees from the most unexpected quarters like, to wit, the editor of a Bombay weekly, R.K.Karania who has declared that salvation for the world is possible only through the good offices of the Baba. This editor is in the distinguished company of the “reputed” parliamentarian, industrialist and keyman of the Express group of newspapers, namely Sri Ramnath Goenka, who himself wrote a letter in the Indian Express pointing out the glory of the Baba and followed it up with a series of “scholarly” and “original” articles by Dr. Gokak, Dr. Bhagavantham and a host of other. A neat certificate from Goenka must be enough to accept the credibility of the Baba!

The Bangalore University launches a campaign and immediately the Goenka-KK Birla press launches a counter-campaign. Draw your own conclusions, and if you cannot explain the role of the Bombay weekly, Blitiz, (not of the Jain group, though) it is your headache. The Indian Express came out with a series of four articles by Gokak, and then Bhagavantham wrote on the scientific explorations into the lore of the Baba. And now Gokak has come out with a book on the Baba already reviewed with enthusiasm in the Baba press.

This hyper-activity is rather intriguing and, thus, it may be interesting to analyze the thesis presented so copiously by Gokak in what he might rightly consider to be his masterpiece. His breath-taking discoveries about the Baba, his analysis of spiritualism, his thoroughgoing master of the sciences and the social sciences whose total embodiment the Baba is, the immaculate ethics that Baba stand for and that Gokak understands, and other details are all worthy of the greatest attention if not also of the least acceptance.

It is rather strange that all these crusades should have become necessary for the Baba – a godman – simply because some man called the bluff abut the god! He needed the Gokaks, the Bhagavanthams and the Goenkas to defend himself. How could the Bombay editor Karanjia remain on the sidelines when so many worthies were battling for saving the honour of god alimighty?

Gokak avers that this godman called Sai Baba is an irresolvable enigma for any sincere analyzer. His countenance displays unfathomable expression climaxed by the aura created by the hair on his head. What Gokak seems to forge to tell us is what there might be or not be in the head of the Baba. But that need not be doubted at all because the Baba himself reads the letters addressed to him., no matter what language it is written in. Why the Baba should read them instead of simply divining the whole thing which would be so much more simple, we do not quite know.

The Baba also replies to the letters himself; provided presumably, that they are not about his alleged miracles as the letter of the Bangalore University which went unreplied, was. The present author’s letter about the affairs of the Sai Baba college remained unreplied, too. But that was theree fyears ago when the college had it whims unregulated. The problem must have been solved in the meeting the Baba reportedly hold to discuss matters relating to the college and hospital that the Baba runs.

It is a mild surprise that the godman cannot communicate his decisions or will in the best interests of the institutions without holding committee meetings in the afternoon like mundane mortals. It is unfortunate that some meetings of this kind should have proved abortive considering the way the institutions are run in some respects.

Gokak also give us a glimpse of the daily routine of the Baba. The itinerary reads like that of a philanthropic playback singer of the film world, which the Baba would have been if the illusions of godhood had been dispensed with.

The mission of life that the Baba has set for himself is “to uphold Dharma and the law, restore India to her former glory of spirit, and bring the world back to the message of Sprit” as Gokak puts it. The first part of it was also the life’s mission of the venerable M.S.Golwalkar who has left others to accomplish the task unfinished by him, and among them the total revolutionary Sri Jayaprakash Narayan.

Developing aversion towards the present because it involves hardship, to overcome which one has to fight collectively, is one avenue of escapism; it also serves the purpose of rationalizing the present as irredeemable, in which case the best compromise is acceptance of the situation as it presents itself. This is the philosophy which has chained the people of this country through the ages and the Baba and his cronies are the contemporary instruments of this ignoble philosophy which is given a fine coloring to hide its wretchedness. From this to the romanticisation of poverty and its causes is not a long road.

Further, the glib talk of the restoration of the glory of the past may sound nauseating to all students of history because of its being contrary to the laws of development of society, its civilization and culture. But Gokak and his likes need not bestow any attention to all these things, intoxicated with the godman consciousness as they are. And, thus, he resorts to the poetic flights of fancy when he declares with a flourish that in the Baba “one can find the healing touch of the Christ and the heart-easing speech of the Buddha”. We have no right to accuse Gokak of being a realist anyway.

The learned Dr. Gokak proceeds to point out that “the uniqueness of Baba lies in the fact that he did not have to practice any penance or achieve any Siddhi or realization in this life. He was born with them”. Like the Baba, possibly the disciples of the Baba are also born disciples!

How can they then acquire any new trait? Siddhis are hindrance to the development in the path of the achievement of Kaivalys (liberation) according to the author of the Yoga Sutras, whether the Siddhis are inborn or acquired. The right spiritual mould is also blunted with the manifestation of the Siddhis and if they are employed.

The Baba must have been fascinated by the Siddhis overmuch in order to sacrifice the higher spiritual path! If you claim that he is also the highest spiritual giant in spite of, or because of, the Siddhis, then it must be said that the Baba is caught in a bundle of contradictions in the traditional view.

All the same, the Baba is reputed as having performed the most astounding medical feats which are inexplicable in the background of the medical knowledge that we possess. Some skeptics might say that it is incredible more than being inexplicable.

In this connection, one could refer to the evidence tendered by a certain lad in the Bombay weekly which is giving publicity to the Baba. The lady “proved” that the Baba is divine in content by saying that her husband, a devotee of the Baba, was saved from getting killed in an accident by the will of the Baba. The said gentleman was to have traveled by some bus which later met with an accident. Lo and behold, the will of the Baba had intervened and the man had not traveled by that bus at all. Thus the man was saved. The lady visited the spot of the accident and found that the driver and other in the bus had been very badly injured.

The crucial question to prove the divinity of the Baba is not whether X was saved or not; the question is, why was the accident itself not averted? What a monstrous partiality of the godman if the saves his acquaintance and abandons the other one, a worker!

Such accidents take place only now; god did not ordain that such accidents should take place even now, say, in our villages which have yet to witness that change towards mechanization. God did not allow anyone to be killed in such accidents before the machine was invented by man. Man thus seems to be the ordainer of himself. And yet the Baba must be credited with the saving of some life. The incident really proves nothing about the Baba.

Added to that, the products of the alleged miracles of the Baba doled out as gifts to the coteries of his are not unknown or novel products. He gives, to wit, the Swiss Watches. The interesting part of it is that the disciples of the lower classes invariably get only ash; those of the higher classes may get gold rings, wrist watches, and images for worship. There is unfortunately no instances of the Baba having presented a meal as a miracle-products gift to anyone.

Dr. Gokak asserts that these gifts are made by the Baba only for drawing the disciples to the world of Spirit. What did Sri Ramakrishna present as gifts to draw other to the path of the spirit?

In this connection, we may refer to a rather reveling story. Adjacent to the Baba’s hermitage in Bangalore is a factory which makes ice-cream. The Baba gets his supply of ice cream from here. The erstwhile President of the Employees’ Union who dies in a tragic accident in May 1976, Comrade Gopi, once made a hold suggestion: “Why does the Baba take the ice-cream made by us, the workers? Let him come here and we shall give him all the raw materials used in the making of the ice-cream Let him then make his own cream. If he cannot make it with all the raw materials, what are the chances of his making without them? If he cannot make even ice cream with his much talked about miracles, are not the worker more skilful and useful?” The Baba, let us hope, will some day accept the challenge which is only a suggestion.

But Dr. Gokak is not given to this kind of a rational outlook. For him the colorful sentences of his are the last word. It seems to be forgotten that big imposing sentences by themselves do no not become convincing, in spite of Dr. Gokak. Hence his statement that “he (the Baba) can sport and prattle away like an innocent child and at the same time, be a more shrewd judge of men and events than any statesman or diplomat” remain unsubstantiated and unsubstantiable.

Gokak adds that the Baba is self-effacing and thus advised an American to wait for ten years before writing the biography of the Baba lest haste make for unpleasantness later on. It is surprising that the Baba did not tender the same advice to the Bombay editor or to Gokak. The latter has come out with a biography of the Baba with top speed after the controversy about the godman assumed a sizable proportion. Presumably, it was thought desirable to do so in order to somother “the vicious attack” on the godman!

The self-effacing Baba rose to the level of any ordinary being only the other day when he openly declared in a meeting in Lalbagh, Bangalore, that the moon does not blush if the dogs bark at it. He was referring to his moonness to justify his pride, and he is self-effacing, according to Gokak.

This world must, however, suffer the godman for a long time yet to come. Because he has decided to live on till the age of 96. He will be decaled to be 96 on the day of his death, we may guess. In any case, it means that his commitment to play the role of the saviour during the twentieth century is irreversible.

We no longer need be haunted with thoughts of the annihilation of the world consequent to a nuclear holocaust, because the world, we are assured, will be there for the Baba to save it. Even détente is unnecessary concept considering that the Baba is there to save us. Baba believes in planning also as may be deduced from the fact that he has plans to take birth in a village in the Manya district of Karnataka after his death at 96. Whether this plan will end up the way the plans of the “socialist republic of India” have is anybody’s guess.

The painful thing for us is that the godman should also think only in terms of the small world of Karnataka for taking birth in order to save humanity. What an ugly limit to the manifold scope of the godman! Why not go to America to take birth because most of the person whom the Baba is now “saving” come from that land? Or is it that it is predestine that he must “save” them by being in Karnataka?

“Saving” means “serving the interests”, if there is any confusion in anybody. We are indeed flattered here in Karnataka. Every saviour comes to us first. Dom Moraes is presently here to serve us. We are assured of the continued presence of the Baba. Only those Krishna-cultists have gone to West Bengal first. The Bangla border must have attracted them; but later they may also go over here.

Baba is an incarnation, Gokak tells us. What might that be now? Gokak explained it avidly and vividly to an American newspaperman in 1974. Poor mortals like us cannot understand such intricate matters even if we know some English. The wonder of wonders that Gokak sreports reltes to the dropping of ash from photograph of the Baba in America also. Why is there so much marveling about the ash? Is ash such a rare commodity to marvel at in this world? You can collect a sack of it from any railway station in this country on any day of your choice!

Not so the alchemy providing the Baba’s cure for the incurable diseases. He cures such diseases with dynamism of love. If in Charles Bradlaugh’s tradition, we are to tell the godman: “I can’t believe; strike me dead if you dare”, the dynamically loving Baba in his mercy will only quip like the Christ: “Forgive them, my Lord; they know not what they say”. What a refreshing thing to know. And yet the Baba became furious and called names only recently when it was put to him that his claims might have to be investigated before being accepted.

The tenor of Dr. Gokak’s thesis being now familiar to us, we may run through his second and subsequent articles on the Baba with greater ease. To listen to the singing of the Bab is “to experience the process of a social revolution in progress before our eyes and in our very ears”. “The divine ashes the Baba gives is an austere symbol of what he wishes to suggest”.

To some, however, he suggests through gold! The meaning obviously is that some will go to dust and other will wallow in the ill-gotten wealth. A millionaire was once presented with a gold ring to admonish him. “To those who have, more shall be given”. “Truth, Beauty, Goodness, Love and Power are abstractions and one does not know where to find them”, say Gokak. One may hope that they may not be found in the Baba also.

But the ingenuity of the Baba is simply maddening. He “created for a biologist, an image of the missing link”. Whose prototype was that? Such mischievous questions cannot be encouraged. Baba “uses water as petrol and transforms particles of sand into a beautiful golden image”. There are those amongst us who use petrol as water and they are the nearest disciples of the Baba. With Baba to assist us, there is no longer any sense in going in for Indo-Soviet collaboration to improve our oil potential through further explorations. Instead, we must sign an Indo-Sai pact and do away with the rigs because the Baba believes only in ragas.

Baba has made a tree in his orchard the receptacle of fruits of all kinds. The merchants of Bangalore being fools, they still write to Kashmir and obtain them to sell here. Baba  is an economist par excellence and he know the solution for solving the problems of our economy. Only he will not do it as some of us do not allow him to do it the way he choses.

Let us quote Gokak at some length as it unmasks the Baba and his masquerading disciples once and for all: “Baba has spelt out his own version of the social sciences. His version is not the socialism of under-payment. It is rather an economics based on love – putting the rich on his guard and making him realize, in his bones, that he is the trustee, and not the owner of his wealth. A trusteeship based on love is the foundation on which the science of economics should be reared”. The cat is out of the nasty bag now. All Babaism ultimately is to justify the way of capitalism to the suffering of oppressed people!

The oppressed also want to make the exploiters realize in their bones that exploitation will not be tolerated and will be done away with. One-third of the world has already made its erstwhile exploiters realize this concretely. Even the Gandhian economists have more or less stopped talking about the trusteeship theory. Baba is certainly not the first to come up with the profound theory of trusteeship, His beguiling trick will not work as those of other have failed in the past.

The oppressing classes have always advised the oppressed to abjure the class war and Gokak is now playing that role on behalf of the Baba in the name of spiritualism, godhood of the man called Baba, and other such deceptive stratagems. Nobody will be taken in by these clever but disgusting tricks. Status quoism is more prevalent in the Baba than in any other brand of politicians. And that is the gist of Babaism.

The spokesman of the Baba, namely Dr. Gokak, must be thanked profusely for frankly admitting what lies behind all the intriguing designs of the Baba. Saying that the Baba is the best medicine-man, sociologist, psychologist, philosopher and what have you, will be so much of nonsense when we know that all these and other disciplines have evolved through the ages and will continue in the centuries to come.

Knowledge at any given state of history is incomplete and imperfect and that is why there is the quest to expand the vista of knowledge and thereby acquire greater freedom for mankind. This is what stimulates man to ever new adventures in the sphere of knowledge. If there are a few questions or even thousand of them for which we do no know the answers today, we need not jump to the conclusion that the answers will never be fund. Past history is an indication of the way future history will shape itself.

The earthquake in China has proved beyond any doubt that in a planned society relief measure are better designed than in an unplanned society. The future society will be increasingly of that fashion. Knowledge will be the strongest weapon in the hands of man to civilize himself and rise to a higher level. That is what no Baba will or can accomplish. That is what man collectively achieves.

Dr. Gokak obviously does not want this to be recognized. For him the wisdom of the Baba is the beginning and the end. Hypothesis is never the substitute for correct knowledge. The stalwarts who take the Baba as their ultimate guide have taken the hypothesis for the ultimate truth and that is precisely where they are wrong and also dishonest to the precepts of Science. A few barren articles in the Goenka press or even in a Bombay weekly by men however reputed they be, will not make any difference to this incontrovertible phenomenon.

The cloak of spiritualism for swindling the gullible masses has been stained with blood in the past and it is too late in the day for the Baba and Gokaks to use it again. Man’s destiny is more glamorous and inviting and he shall not stop short of reaching that enchanting and just state.

This essay, first published three decades back (Main Stream, October 23, 1976), though outdated in certain respects, continues to be relevant in India today, when all sorts of godmen and godwomen have a field day swindling the gullible people.  This essay was later reproduced (page 162 – 174) in “Living Marx” published by Ma-Le Prakashana, Bangalore.

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Gods on Earth: Shankaracharya says no to worship of Sai Baba

Ram Puniyani

The phenomenon of God is probably the most complex one in the World. For believers there is a range of belief system about the supernatural powers. For agnostics it is ‘I don’t know’ and for atheists there is no supernatural power. The systems of thought relevant to the topic range from Animists (nature worshippers), polytheists (multiple gods/goddesses), tri-theists (Brahma-Vishnu-Mahesh or Father, Son and the Holy spirit), Monotheists (single Universal God) to Atheists. In the concept of God we have ‘god as a physical being’ to formless the God. Adivasis are animists, worshipping the nature and spirits of their ancestors. In different religions the concept is very different, including the fact that some religions do not have the concept of God like Buddhism and Jainism. Polytheism prevailed in Greek society, with different Gods and Goddesses endowed with special virtues. Ancient Aryans also had polytheism, with multitude of Gods and Goddesses looking after different virtues and aspects of the life on Earth. We have a Goddess each for wealth (Laxmi) knowledge (Sarswati) and Power (Durga) We also have a God each for lightening (Indra) air (Marut) sex (Kamdevta) liquor (Som devta) amongst the plethora of the divine powers. Hindu mythology is a rainbow exposition of the diversity and complexity of the lives of Gods and Goddesses.

There is no fixed timeline of the phenomenon of God. Diverse concepts begin in different time periods.  From animism, the most ancient concept to polytheism-monotheism and atheism come up over a period of time but not in a sequential fashion. Simultaneously, there come up the traditions of Charvak, Buddhism and Jainism which either do not talk about God or deny the existence of God. While today the prophet based religions like Christianity and Islam have a definitive concept, the Hindu religion has plethora of divine powers, Hinduism also has assimilated the diverse concepts, which merrily co-exist. That’s how in my childhood while reciting Hanuman Chalisa and reading Ramayan, (Lord Ram) I could reverentially go through the text of Mahabharata, with many Gods playing their different interesting roles. My family-community, worshipped Banyan tree on one hand and on the other had parallel worship of bullocks, of snakes and what have you. I vividly remember taking the wooden bullocks to neighbors and getting some sweets or small change as a reward. Every Saturday, mendicants with a vessel filled with oil used to come and my grandfather used to slip some coins in to the vessel, while at the same time performing the puja of Lord Ram.

Last three decades in particular while on one hand one saw the plethora of Godmen like Mahesh Yogi, Rajneesh, J.Krishnamurthy, Asaram Bapu, Satya Sai baba (Bhagwan) coming to the fore, the popularity of Sai Baba of Shirdi and Mata Vaishno Devi has gone up exponentially. Bhagwan Satya Sai, who died few years ago, had vast following and he was regarded as the reincarnation of Shirdi Sai baba. At the same time Shirdi Sai pilgrimage became very popular and his temples came up in most cities. Sai Baba of Shirdi has a beautiful syncretic background. While he was born in a Muslim family he came up more in Sufi tradition and intermingled with equal affection amongst Hindus as well as Muslims. His major focus was bringing Hindus and Muslims together. One major landmark in his life will give the essence of his efforts. In 1896 he instituted the annual Sufi ‘urs' festival with the explicit purpose of bringing these two communities together. In 1912 he combined this Urs with Hindu Ram navami festival. This effort of his strengthened his Sufi initiative of co-operation, symbiosis and tolerance. During the festival Hindus would worship in the mosque along with Muslims, each community following their own rituals. The Baba would put the sandalwood paste on the forehead of Mlahspati, the priest of local Khandoba temple, who in turn would reciprocate the gesture. Baba was deeply steeped in humanism, the core of all religions, and so initially Muslims as well as Hindus started respecting him.

By and by more and more of Hindus started worshipping him and today he is more of a Hindu deity than a Muslim one. In Hinduism as such there is a scope for new Gods and Goddesses also (e.g. Santoshi Ma, Satyanarayan). Apart from Sai Baba; Swami Parmhans is another one who has been raised to the level of divinity, and his more famous disciple Swami Vivekananda, also started a mission in his name.

The controversy around worshipping of Sai Baba was raised by Shankaracharya Swami Swaroopanand (June 2014) who described Shirdi Sai baba as a Muslim ascetic, and proclaimed that he cannot be worshipped like a Hindu deity. He also said that his campaign is to protect the Hindu religion and that he will continue irrespective. Sadhvi Uma bharti currently Union Minister of Water Resources, who was one of the prominent figures in Ram Temple agitation, leading to demolition of Babri masjid and deepening the communal divides, is also worshipper of Sai baba. In a letter to Swami Swaroopanand she explained the rationale behind her statement where she had said that looking upon someone as a god was people's personal choice.

While Sai Baba has been accepted as God by large sections of Hindus, it is probably for the first time that someone, Shankaracharya, has objected to this popular trend. As such Hinduism is a collation of multiple traditions. The clerical Brahminical tradition to which Shankracharya belongs is rigid and orthodox, while the other traditions of Nath, Tantra, Siddhanta and Bhakti are more flexible and adapt to the situation very easily. The Hindu practices have evolved continuously. On one hand the clerical ones emphasize on the status quo, the non Brahminical traditions have flexibility and fluidity. It will require a deeper study to understand as to why the worship of Jai Mata Di, Sai Baba, Santoshi Maa has become more popular during last few decades, surely it is part of broader inclusive Hindu practice as well. One needs to realize that the religious practices of different religions are not uniform. Even in the Universal, Prophet based religions; there are sects, Catholic-Protestants, Shia-Sunni, Hinayan-Mahayan, Digambar-Shetambar, to name the few. The orthodox versions of religions have been used as the base of politics within every religion. South Asia is today in the grip of rising religiosity on the one hand and growing assertion of politics in the name of religion on the other. The more conservative orthodox versions are picked up for political abuse, Wahabi version from Islam, Brahminical version from Hinduism, and similar conservative version from Buddhism in Myanmar-Sri Lanka-Thailand in particular.

People should be left to their own wisdom and choice in matters of the faith. Imposing, asserting a particular version from the interpretation of the texts does complicate the matters and creates strife, the way the controversy raised by Shankaracharya is doing.   

While on the topic of God, recently a book has come out, “Why Atheism will replace religion: The triumph of earthly pleasures over pie in the sky” written by Nigel Barber. This book predicts that religions, believers, will become a minority Vis a Vis the practice of secularism in the decade of 2040s. This book relates the rise/fall of the religion with economic power and makes an observation that atheists are much more in number in developed countries. This book is based on the study of 137 nations conducted by the author who concludes that in the countries; more developed the welfare system; higher is the number of atheists. The book’s crunch line is, in countries where distribution of income is even, lesser is the number of religious people. The author is a prominent psychologist. He makes a prediction that people will feel lesser need of supernatural beliefs when the tangible world is providing them for their real needs. Also in a survey conducted in America 20% people identified themselves as Atheists.

While we wait for the realisability of such prediction, we should respect the people’s choices about their faith, this is a message loud and clear given by the followers of Sai baba in response to what Shankaracharya said.

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Business of Faith

Ram Puniyani

Our society has seen severe turmoil’s in the name of religion during last three decades in particular. While on one side we see that issues related to religion’s identity are trying to occupy the center stage, we also are witnessing the emergence of thousands of self proclaimed ‘Godmen’, supposed to be having divine powers. They do also claim and sometimes the state, society does informally accord them some sort of a special status. This came to the light once again in the case of Asaram bapu, against whom the allegation of rape of a minor girl was lodged. In this case the arrest of the accused was warranted immediately, but the police force took its sweet time and with great difficulty and drama; could arrest the Bapu. Bapu did try to evade the arrest on various grounds, so many programs are lined up, am unwell, my relative has died, but finally some pressures did work and Baba was arrested from his Indore Ashram (31^st August 2013).

Courtesy: www.santabanta.com

Asaram bapu is amongst the leading Godmen, as far as the wealth, number of Ashrams and the number of followers is concerned. While he has many influential people amongst his followers, there is no dearth of political people blatantly supporting the likes of him or delaying their arrest under the pressure of ‘electoral calculations’. This is not the first time that criminal cases have been talked about against him, many a cases of land grab came to surface, but law of the land seems to be sleeping on that. The death of two boys in his Ahmadabad Ashram, and two in Chindwara Ashram got suppressed through the mechanisms which are a back up of these God men.

To be fair to Asaram Bapu, he is not alone in the game. There are hordes of Godmen who have acquired infinite wealth. Many of them have been linked to cases of murders in their Ashrams (Shankaracharay Jayendra Sarswati, Late Bhagwan Staya Sai), the listing of those involved in sex scandals of various types is a long one and the lead in this area goes to Nityanand Mahraj, who claimed that he is reincarnation of Lord Krishna. The life style of these Saints is the one of luxury and affluence, proving that while preaching renunciation etc.; one gets the best of what the World has to offer in the arena of material wealth.

Courtesy: www.thehindu.com

Using the word ‘Saint’ for these breed of Babas is also a bit problematic. We do recall the medieval saints of the genre of Kabir, Tukaram, Namdeo, Paltu, Raidas, who came from low caste, were working for their living, and rubbing shoulders with the poor and deprived. They criticized the evil practices in the society, questioning the social inequality in particular. They expressed the anguish of the deprived sections of society, the way Chokhmela, a saint from Maharashtra, talked of injustice in this world where ‘one that grows the grains is hungry, one that weaves the clothes does not have clothes and one who builds the houses has to sleep under the open sky’. These saints were away from the power centers and many of them had to face atrocities from those in power. Nizamuddin Auliya, a Sufi saint, refused to entertain the king to his hospice. Kabir talked against caste system, against the divisions in the name of religion and the social power structure. They had followers mainly amongst the poor and deprived.

The current genre of the Saints, have big following amongst affluent, receive huge donations from those who are drenched in wealth and the powers that be are on their side. These saints have built up their empires of wealth, affluence and power over a period of time. It is interesting that in India there has been a long tradition of people associated with religion. The dominant category is that of the clergy, like the Shankaracharya tradition. There are Mutts, there are ashrams and there are centers where theology and philosophy of religion is discussed at length. Incidentally the current series of Godmen have not much to do with the theology or philosophical debates around religion. In contrast the medieval saints were rooted in the society and talked of social issues, struggle against social evils, like Kabir comparing Chakki (grinding mill) with the idol of lord or reprimanding Mullah for loud bang (Azan).

Courtesy: santabanta

Such social issues are not the concern of present Godmen. There is a vast variety of them and it is not easy to generalize them and their methods. Still some major features of the present ones can be outlined. Their rooting in philosophy or social issues is skin deep. They have picked up some formulae which are elaborated with song and music or they deliver discourses which probably soothe the tense nerves of the section of society, a section facing social dilemmas and anxieties. Some of these Godmen are outright frauds like Nirmal Baba, advising the solution to the problems e.g. through change of color of Chatni (Sauce), which is eaten with the popular Indian snack, Samosa. Meditation and yoga is a major method apart from discourses. Some of them like Morari Bapu have the luxury of preaching Bhagwat (Sacred Narration) while taking devotees on the Sea cruise around the world.

So the prefix saint has a totally different meaning with these two divergent set of people, the genre of Kabi-Nazamuddin Auliya on one side and Asaram Bapu-Nirmal Baba on the other. There is a fundamental difference in their grouping. In his famous sentence, Karl Marx says "Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people". And this sentence seems to answer this difficult question in categorizing the complex variety of saints. On one hand we have Clergy (the official –unofficial upholders of the rituals and institution of religion), in the form of Pundit, Maulana, Granthi, and Padri. On other hand is the vast array of medieval saints, coming from different religions, Bhakti saints, Sufi saints who while talking in idiom of religion, were not associated with the power structure or performance of rituals. And then we have this vast array of present saints, proliferating dime a dozen from the most well known like Asaram Bapu, Baba Ramdev and Sri Sri Ravishankar to the small time operators in different cities.

The clergy was definitely part of the power structure, accompaniment of the feudal lord and the Kings. In Maharashtra the phrase ‘Shetji-Bhatji’ (Landlord-Brahmin) sums it up very well. There is Raja-Rajguru, while the ‘Nawab and Shahi Imam’ is another association and the most structured one in this category comes in the form of ‘King and Pope’. They stood for status quo in a society, where the poor peasants were being exploited to their bones. They acted a sort of opiate for the masses to keep them tied to their hard labor. One can say that in contrast the medieval saints were the sigh of oppressed in this heartless exploitative World.

Coming to the Asaram Bapu-Nirmal baba series they are again like the opiate for the masses. Unquestioning the system, blind to injustices, quiet on social evils in the name of religion and at the same time cultivate strong bonds with social powers and have political patronage. While BJP currently may be coming forward in a bit more forthright manner to defend the Babas in the name of Hindu religion, even the others political tendencies also do not have enough courage to criticize the babas. These babas do fulfill the need of the opium to calm the tense nerves, and assume the larger than life image for themselves under the garb of religion. They become ‘more equal’ in the eyes of powers that be so it becomes difficult to get them arrested for criminal charges in the routine course and they can defy the law to some extent or the great extent. So unless the charge is very blatant, like as in case of Asaram, most of them get support from the political class and their blind supporters. One recalls Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Asaram Bapu sitting on a Dhrana in Delhi to oppose the arrest of Shankracharya Jayendra Sarswati in Shankar Raman murder case. One also recalls the soft peddling of murder of children in Asaram Bapus ashrams or other times when influential politician speak out of turn to protect these Babas.

The irony is that the rise of these babas is in parallel with the rise of politics in the name of religion. Many a times there is a subtle and overt association between these babas with the religious nationalist discourse, which they defend and propagate. Many of them also talk about the values of Manusmriti, the hierarchy of caste and gender in a more sophisticated ways. At social levels the current babas are for status quo of social relationships, like talking about caste harmony (Sri Sri Ravishanker) in contrast to Ambedkar’s ‘caste annihilation’.

One knows that a section of population treats them like God; a section does need them to allay their mental pressures. One also knows that they have emerged due to the rising insecurities in the society due to the economic and political factors. They all operate under the garb of religion and faith so it becomes difficult to question their methods. Such a garb of faith lifts them above the ordinary and gives them some immunity from the laws of the land. The need for respecting people’s faith and knowing its limits without denigrating reason and law of the land was never felt more desperately!

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Science versus Miracles: Lifting a Rice Pot with a Knife

B Pemanand

Whenever I try to explain and educate the people about the falsity of miracles, supernatural and psychic powers, the news media confuse them with stories of supernatural powers. While I was in Andhra Pradesh conducting a Vijnan Yatra, the news media came up with the story of a temple. When a married couple is childless, it is believed that if they go to this temple and pray, they will be blessed with a child. The idol in the temple is a six feet tall naked Kala Bhairava in stone. When I enquired about the truthfulness of the story, I found that about 90% of the ladies were really blessed with children. I was curious to know this god’s method of blessing childless women. I knew only one way by the practice of Aum, the Srishti Mantra.

A friend accompanied me with his wife who acted as my wife. I knew that for the blessings of the gods, one has to shell out much money. So we went dressed very shabbily. I met the priest and told him that in spite of my marriage, I had not yet become a father. I begged him to pray for the blessing of the god so that there would be someone to perform the shraddha ceremony when we died. As I was already old, he would have to do his best.

The priest sat in thought as if he was searching for the reason why I had not become a father. He looked at me and said that I had bad times with the dangerous planets Rahu and Ketu circling my head. That was why I did not become a father. He looked at the lady and told her since she had murdered a child in her past birth, the curse of that child was hovering around her head and so she would not become a mother. These planets would have to be propitiated and the soul of the child appeased. For this five thousand rupees would need to be spent for, the prayaschitta puja. For two hours we pleaded poverty, and finally he came down to Rs250/- which we paid. Then we were asked to bring a panchaloha pot filled with rice. The lota was available on rent. He gave us a knife and asked us to pray to the Lord Kala Bhairava with full faith, then insert the knife in the vessel filled with rice and lift the knife. If the god was pleased the vessel filled with rice would rise with the knife and we would be blessed with a child.

We prayed, touching each other, and raised the knife after inserting it in the vessel, but the vessel did not come up along with the knife. He told us that what he has found through intuition was correct. And he started the prayaschitta puja which continued for about an hour. With each word he inserted the knife in the vessel and took it out now and then. After the propitiation prayer was over, we were asked to insert the knife straight down into the rice and lift the knife. He helped us in this and surprisingly the vessel also lifted along with the knife. He explained the prayer had worked.

The next step was that the lady should be closeted in the sanctum sanctorum and have sex with the idol. She was a brave woman. After she entered into the sanctum sanctorum, the doors were closed. It was utter darkness inside as there was no windows or ventilators. She stood at the place where the priest had sat for the prayers as there was a plank on the ground which he had used for sitting. After some minutes she heard footsteps coming towards her from behind the idol. She was ready with the plank in her hand and she hit the person with it. Since it was sudden, and it had never happened before, the person fell down. The plank also hit the idol and the private parts of the naked idol broke off. She banged on the door, and we got it opened. A man was sprawled on the floor and the idol had lost its genitals. We took the picture of the idol. We now knew how the women who prayed at that temple got pregnant. The women who got pregnant were those whose husbands were impotent. They were not blessed by the god, but by the priest. Those who were barren were not blessed.

In earlier year Satya Sai Baba had also blessed hundreds of women with children. The modus operandi was that the wife would stay in the ashram and continue to pray in the morning and night. At the time of going to sleep she would be given a cup of milk and she would fall unconscious. Then the godman would see that she got pregnant. Our ministers like Y. B. Chavan and T.A. Pai had also approached him for blessing them with a child, but because they did not leave their wives there, Satya Sai Baba could not bless them with children.

In 1987, at Satara in Maharashtra, a Baba blessed several married women with children and the law enforcement department could not arrest him as the women would not come forward as witnesses. The skeptic group in Maharashtra, Andha Shraddha Nirmoolan Samithi, after talking to the molested women of the danger of allowing the Baba to continue the notorious activity, finally persuaded them to come forward as witnesses. He was prosecuted and jailed. For the first time in India, the Maharashtra Law Enforcement department issued orders to all police stations to help the skeptic groups to expose such frauds and to give them protection when they went to tile public to educate them about such frauds.

But other state governments and the Central Government, being a party to such frauds like Satya Sai Saba, instead of protecting the skeptics when they expose them, protect the godmen and harass the skeptics. In 1986 when I asked for police protection for a peaceful Dharna before Satya Sat Saba’s Ashram at Puttaparthi to allow us to investigate him, the Andhra Pradesh government imposed Section 144 of CPC and got us all arrested fifty kilometers away from Puttaparthi. The Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh and the Inspector General of Police were directing the arrests. On 1.1.1986 I had planned to show the public at Puttaparthi all the miracles of Satya Sai Baba and explain how he does them and how they could expose him.

Any woman gone to a godman or Baba for a child will bear the child of the godman or Baba. Instead of going to such frauds, they should go to the hospital for proper treatment. Medical science has progressed so much that through proper treatment the sperm count of a man can be increased consider­ably and the wife become impregnated. Moreover, artificial insemination is possible if she has inverted fallopian tubes. Or she can have a test tube baby. No godman can help a woman to become pregnant if there is a medical problem. In such cases they can well adopt a child. There are thousands and thousands of orphan children who need parental love. Let me now explain how the rice pot trick works.

Experiment: 112

Effect: Blessing a childless couple with a child. A vessel filled with rice rises up when a knife is inserted in the vessel.

Props:  A narrow-necked pot with broad bottom, rice, and a plain straight table knife which is long enough.

Method:  Pack the pot with rice and go on jamming, inserting the knife halfway. When you feel that the rice has jammed at the bottom, insert the knife to the bottom straight down. The pot will rise up with the knife when it is lifted. I have performed this feat more than seven thousand times, but I have not delivered a child so far. Interestingly we have a god “Sabarimal Ayyappan” who is believed to be born from a union between Shiva and Vishnu. Lord Ayyappan is allergic to women and so women are not allowed entry to his temple. But temples have come up recently to his wife and children.

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Science versus Miracles: Breaking coconuts on the head

B Premanand

In the 1980's a godman from Jaffna in Sri Lank came to Kerala, broke 101 coconuts on his head, and distributed the coconut water as prasad to devotees.  He claimed that he lived only on coconut water Mathrubhumi Weekly published a cover page article with pictures of this godman and challenged our committee to come to reason and believe in miracles. They said that the Jaffna Siddhan - as he was called - was demonstrating this miracle to prove there is a god and miracles do happen. Also, he never collected money. I was wondering how breaking coconuts on the head had anything to do with gods and how this could be a miracle. Later, even our national television showed him breaking coconuts. Some of my friends were asked to observe him.

It was found that he was not breaking ripe coconuts but very tender ones where the shell had not hardened. These coconuts were so tender that when they are dropped from the hand they would break. He himself climbed the trees and collected the coconuts for the feat.

Having discovered his secret, our friends exchanged his bag of coconuts with some ripe hard coconuts. The first bag was his and he broke them on his head. The second bag was ours. He took one coconut and hit it on his head. It did not break. He tried another but that did not break either. Like-wise, half a dozen coconuts were tried. But they would not break. H knew something had gone wrong. He informed the audience that there were some hurdles at the Morning Prayer and that was why he had failed to show the miracle. He said he would come again the next day. The next day he was missing as he knew from the newspapers that our committee had exposed his trick.

I trained half a dozen people to break coconuts on their heads. We demon­strated the feat in every district in Kerala, which gave our committee national recognition since every newspaper published the exposure. Some even made fun of us. Mathrubhumi published the exposure stating that the godman broke the coconuts for his livelihood, while we exposed him for fame! By this time he had pocketed more than a million rupees.

Experiment: 76

Effect: Breaking coconuts on the head.

Props: Tender coconuts without the fibre removed.

Method: This is not a trick. Hit the tender coconut on your head at the portion where the shell has three eyes. It will break.

Experiment: 77

Effect: Breaking hard coconuts on head without fibre.

The oracle hits his forehead with a ripe coconut without fibre and it breaks.

Props: One coconut without fibre and a tree-cutting knife.

Method: Beforehand, clean the coconut, removing the fibre completely except at the top. Then gently strike it around middle with the knife until there is a crack in the shell, but it does not separate. Dry it in the sun for three days when the pulp will separate from the shell. Now you are ready. Apply kumkum or sandal paste etc., on the coconut to hide the crack on the shell. Then hit it on your forehead. It will break into two.

Experiment: 78

Effect: Breaking a coconut by sprinkling water.

The oracle sprinkles water on a coconut chanting incantations. The coconut cracks and a ghost disappears.

Props: One ripe coconut cleaned of its fibre.

Method: Keep the coconut in a lime kiln and remove it when the kiln is opened. If water falls on it, the coconut cracks.

Hundreds take part in coconut breaking ritual at Mettumahadanapuram

The Hindu, Chennai

Weblink: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/article554759.ece 

(accessed on November 3, 2012)

KULITHALAI, August 6, 2010

Ritual of breaking coconuts on head observed

The Aadi festival of the Sri Mahalakshmi Amman Temple at Mettumahadanapuram in Karur district was celebrated on Wednesday with the important ritual of devotees having coconut broken on their head as a mark of thanksgiving or fulfilment of a vow. Some sustained simple bleeding injuries but for many it was pretty normal.

The ritual is part of the two-day annual festival at the temple revered by the ‘kudipaadu' comprising the Kurumba community and sections of the 24 Manai Telugu Chettiars community.

Earlier in the day, the Amman returned to the temple after a ‘thiruveedhi ula' and the chief priest, A. Periasamy, performed the abishekam with sanctified waters from River Cauvery.

Then a traditional lamp was lit atop the temple flag mast.

Even as more than 560 men and women devotees sat in rows with bated breath, a perked up Mr. Periasamy in a trance, stood on a shoe of nails and broke coconuts first on the head of seven elders each from the two main communities.

Then he went around the main enclosure breaking coconuts on the head of devotees who undertook the ritual as part of fulfilment of vows. The authorities had stipulated that only those above 20 years of age could take part in the ritual and as per the directive the participants were screened and admitted.

A medical unit with ambulance and paramedics was at hand to attend to emergency needs and the five devotees who suffered injuries were treated.

Kulithalai Revenue Divisional Officer Balasubramanian, Revenue Department officials, including Krishnarayapuram tahsildar Krishnakumar, Kulithalai DSP R. Manoharan, as also Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments executive officers Srinivasan and Ramalingam, had made the arrangements.

The usual teeming crowds that used to come to the ritual every year were conspicuously missing this year as the run-up to the festival was smooth with no irritant lighting up any controversies as had been the case during the years before.

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Business and Politics of Blind Faith

Ram Puniyani

Sanal Edamaruku, a rationalist is facing the legal trap for abusing others’ faith. (April 2012) At the same time in another event, Nirmal Baba, who is supposed to be having divine powers and who has been flashing his paid programs in over 40 TV channels, advising people on solving their problems with various’ divine’ solutions, is facing case of fraud. Recently a local court has directed the police to register a case against him for allegedly cheating people. Both these cases coming in different religions have a deeper connection. In case of Sanal Edamaruku, he was able to show the root of the water seeping from the feet of Jesus Christ on cross in Mumbai’s Irla area. This water was regarded as divine and many followers were thronging the place to have access to the divine water. Sanal showed that water was from the choked drain and getting pushed up by capillary action. Sanal is facing the wrath of section of the community for hurting their faith.

Nirmala Baba, Nirmaljit Singh Nirula, a failed Businessman had disappeared in 1970 and then later repapered claiming to have divine powers and started building up his enterprise by organizing paid TV shows in which those in the audience were initially paid to ask solutions for their problems and later people in thousands thronged, paid money to enter these TV shows, ‘Nirmal Darbars’ and Baba started dishing out ‘solutions’ while his bank accounts swelled. In few years time the ‘faith-business’ flourished and now Baba is a multimillionaire with good deal of property under his belt.

The large section of followers thronging for the divine water seeping from the feet of Lord Jesus, to explain the source of water came as an insult of their faith. To the multiple people seeking solutions from Nirmal Baba, it was again a matter of faith. The boundaries between faith and blind faith many a times are very blurred. As such faith and reason have been counter-posed in the society. Faith has been ruling the roost in the areas of ‘unknown’ and the future. It has been constructed around the supernatural powers and clergy of different religions or self made Godmen have been the custodian of faith. Many an areas which were in the domain of faith shifted to reason over a period of time like nature of earth, eclipse, diseases etc.

At the same time faith has been used or manipulated for different purposes in society, including for political ones’. Ram Temple movement is the example of such use or abuse of faith. Hiding behind Sharia to continue with certain retrograde social practices is another such example.

The natural phenomenon being interpreted through the angle of faith, Earth is flat, God created life in such and such fashion, is one thing and to create a well planned show to rouse people’s faith and then to make business of it with the help of section of TV, media, unmindful of their social responsibility is another side of the same coin. One concedes that the insecurities of the society have gone up by leaps and bounds and this faith gives a emotional support to many to sustain in the midst of the hardships prevalent all around. Still we do need to bring out the boundaries where the rational thinking, the one our Constitution ordains us to promote, needs to be adhered to sincerely.

Nirmal Baba

In case of Nirmal Baba state has correctly woken up and case has been put up against him. In case of Sanal state and society need to protect him from the trappings of law to uphold reason. The mechanical interpretation of laws ‘hurting the faith’ of others needs to be sanitized for protection of the mandate of Indian Constitution to promote rational thinking and to protect the likes of Sanal.  In case of Nirmal Baba, the media, which has aired the sponsored shows of Baba and built up his fraud, needs to introspect.

The claims that these are matters related to religion are again far away from the truth and have a distorted perception of the complex phenomenon of religion. The core part of any religion is the morality developed by the prophets and society over long period of time. The institutions built around religions and the hyper-emphasis on rituals, sharia is an insertion by the clergy, who has its own vested interests and which has ensured the suppression of rational thought all through. One recalls the battles between Charvak and clergy related to the oldest struggle of reason to come up in social thinking and pull the society out of the clutches of the vested interests of clergy.

Giordano Bruno

In Europe the scientists like Bruno, Servatus, and Galileo suffered immense torture at the hands of powerful mediators of the institutional religions. One must re-emphasize the difference between the teachings of the prophets-religions and emphasis on identity and rituals by institutions of religion and variety of Godmen. Prophets were for radical changes in the society to come out from the evils prevalent in society, they were for change and for justice. The institutions built in their name are there for status quo and for preserving the system where few benefit and most in the society suffer. The rational thinkers, scientists had to face imprisonment or other harassment for discovering things like Earth is round, diseases are not due to wrath of God etc.

The response of the clergy was a severe condemnation of this rational thinking as it would undermine their privileges in the society. While Europe has seen its battle against the blind faith, faith based knowledge; it seems at broader level that we in India are still struggling to come out from the impositions of faith. One can say that even in recent times those who stood for social change and justice like Jotiba Phule, Ambedkar, Periyar Ramaswamy Naicker and Bhagat Singh resorted to rational thought and those for status quo of social relationships took recourse to identity of religion. Their politics took cover under the name of religion and they harped on faith and issues built around identity issues.

The continuation of the mind set of feudal society has got mixed up with the new challenges of globalization and contemporary insecurities faced by the average people. Nirmal Baba may be a crude example from the battery of these Godmen. There are others who are more sophisticated and have a vast reach through diverse mechanisms. Godmen, faith merchants are those who have en-cashed on the insecurities of people by mixing the creation of miracles with faith, mixing spirituality and faith in a variety of ways.   As Meera Nanda, an eminent social scientist, in her book ‘The God Market’ has demonstrated this phenomenon has expanded by leaps and bounds in last three decades. The proliferation of Babas of different hues all around has put a brake on the growth and promotion of rational thought and scientific temper. The patronage of high and mighty to these Godmen, or persecution of people like Sanal is a matter of deep concern and is a mirror showing us as to where our society is going in the matters of faith.  

The litmus test of the values of Babas and those putting cases against the likes of Sanal has to be, how much these elements are talking of prevalent social injustices, how much they are promoting the morality inherent in their religions? On this count the God men are tongue tied. It is time we build the conduits to promote rational thinking and confronting the tricks played by the likes of Nirmal Baba and those propagating the existence of miracles out of phenomenon which can be explained by scientific inquiry. 

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