Return of the Swami - Day 19 at jEDI blogs

Return of the Swami - Day 19

Published by Jedi May 18th, 2006 in India

Day 19 in the motherland and old habits die hard. I had convinced myself that I wouldn't watch any more ODIs involving Bharat. Of course, this was as silly as one of those New Year resolutions. You have them just for the sake of having them. When everyone and their grandmother around you are hooked to the TV, watching these matches, you can't but help getting dragged into it too. It starts with a minor interest in watching Sehwag and Tendu play a few shots and results in you ending up watching the whole thing, thus ruining your whole day. And most of the time it just ends in sore disappointment. It would've probably been different if I was back here where half the people couldn't even spell the word cricket (mmm.. I hope I spelt it right) and I wouldn't get involved at all. Ok, I would still glance at the scores ever so often on Rediff but that doesn't count now does it? Anyhow, the good thing is that it turned out to be a great day. What a superb win by India? When everyone thought they were down and out they came out fighting. Pakis had a feeling of disbelief on their faces.

bihar

So, as you might have guessed already, the cricket match was the main highlight of the day and I spent most of the day watching it. Great result and everyone was happy talking about it and even to some extent celebrating it in their own way. Or so I thought! Apparently, there were people who had bigger concerns in life than watching an Indo-Pak cricket ODI match. And yes, I mean the scores of “bhakts” of the Great Shri Asaramjee Maharaj.

I have already expressed concerns about how the Indian nation has been swarmed by the countless Swami Jees and Mata Jees all of a sudden. They are everywhere - on a hundred different TV channels, billboards, on the backs of buses and scooters, newspapers, radio shows, you name it. Pretty soon I expect them on all food items, clothing and toiletries too and why not? We are a umm.. very spiritual nation. The origins of most of these men and women of God are dubious to say the least. I think we Indians have undergone so many hardships in life that we almost need to believe in miracles.

More to the point, it seems that the Great Shri Bapu Asaramjee was at the Ahmedabad airport planning to catch a flight to Delhi. Of course, it was expected that everyone in the airport would seek Bapu's blessings, lie down on the floor and roll over. That the employees of Jet Airways, would come out from behind the check in counters and greet Swamijee. Perhaps make him tea, while he chooses which aircraft to sit in and the appropriate seats for him. Building a rope bridge from the aircraft door right up to where Swamijee was standing might have also been on the cards. However, none of that happened. In fact, the ignorant security services in Ahmedabad were so ill mannered that they dared to screen swamijee and search his handbags!! How dare they?!! Searching someone with a metal detector before he boards the plane! What a stupid idea indeed?! What an insult to Swamijee?

Of course, there was no way in hell the disciples of the great Swami would tolerate this. A prompt reaction at our “International” airport in Delhi soon followed, when the wonderful “bhakts” all but beat up the employees of Jet Airways. I would have loved to know the reaction of the tourists who landed in Delhi that day, after they found out the reason for the disturbance. But that's not the point. How dare they disgrace our Swamijee?

Sigh! Strange world we live in.

jEDI

14 Responses to “Return of the Swami - Day 19”

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1 One May 19th, 2006 at 5:17 pm

ROFL - This was hilarious; I remember I use to see those ads on ZEE TV man - they were atrocious!

I also want to meet a guruma or guruji pretty soon now! Saale day 19 - waapas aane ka naam bhi lega ke nahi?!

Suyog
2 Princess May 20th, 2006 at 5:43 am

LOL at the photograph!

I laughed so much when that Asaramjee Bapu was checked at the airport and the news made it to headlines.. and then that NDTV correspondent or some such crazed news channel correspondent would ask other people their views on Asaramjee being searched.. I mean.. waht the hell!!

And about cricket.. Aah.. Are you looking forward to 2007 worldcup? I want to lay my bet that this year, either Kenya or Canada will win.. Holand could also win!

Princess!
3 Karan May 23rd, 2006 at 12:43 pm

I don’t see the point of wasting a good 4-5 hrs watching other guys strike a ball and catch it LOL Somehow “watching” sport and going ga-ga over players never caught on with me.

Given that I come from the holy towns of Hardwar and Rishikesh, I have learnt to bear the two-faced (read million-faced) bapus and swamis and pandits for years. Just like watching sport, I didn’t see the point of why people attended their sessions, gave them God status etc etc.

But there are people out there who feel blessed, cared for, listened to, motivated to start afresh and all that just by one sermon (everyday anecdotes concocted wth Bhagvad Gita) of these Maas and Bapus. Which I think is quite laudable. Faith really is a strange thing.

So two things that still don’t make sense to me–watching sport and listening to swamis–give millions of people the reason to celebrate and go mad LOL Individuality is even stranger!

Cheers!

Karan.

PS: Is it just me or does anyone else also find Asaram Bapu creepy with all his speeches in Parseltongue (a.k.a HP)! That guy is the freakiest swami ever!

PPS: Bizarre photo!
4 Princess May 24th, 2006 at 5:16 am

@ Karan

LOLLLLLL at finding Asaram Bapu creepy! ROFL!!

The creepiest Devi is that Amritanandmayi Devi - and amonst swamis, I think, the creepiest is Tarunsagarji - you ever heard him? such freaky speech he has! (Oh, and this Tarunsagarji does not wear any clothes - not a single piece of cloth - ever! :O )

Nirwa
5 Karan May 24th, 2006 at 6:41 am

Ew ew ew Nirwa!

Oh well… atleast there’s some explanation for this Tarunsagarji being famous (now when was the last time a normal lower middle class woman/man could go see a male stripper without being questioned at all!)

And all I have seen amritanandmayi do is hug! Never heard her.

Asarambapu though gives me the most heebeejeebees!

Bolo Jai Ponga Swami!!
6 Jedi May 25th, 2006 at 8:48 am

@One: The odd ad on Zee TV is a blessing man, as opposed to scores of the other dedicated and partially dedicated channels. Having said thatr, I’m glad I got rid of Zee TV and opted for a sports channel. It was good while it lasted. Day 19 - 1 more week to go

@Princess: I think Asaramjee Bapu is a bit lucky in fact, that he is travelling within India. Now imagine a US custom official sees this man wearing funny little clothes (according to him) and a very umm.. suspicious beard. Pardon me Swamijee, I mean not to disgrace you, but I think a full cavity search will follow.
Cricket World Cup hmm.. I think whoever wants to win the World Cup must play a series against India first. Our esteemed bowlers are great to practice with.
@Karan: I know what you mean. Watching something like cricket which takes 4-5 hours must seem like a huge waste. I guess its more about a thrilling (for some) way to pass time, all friends assembling together, cheering your favorite team. And if you are watching it live in a stadium soaking up the tremendous atmosphere. But yes, it doesnt necessarily apply to all or is someone’s idea of a “good time”.
So, you are from Haridwar/Rishikesh? Excellent. I was there briefly last year en route to Tehri. More on that in a diff post.

I agree with you. Faith, really is a strange thing. I dont mind people attending these huge Swami congregations in the end. If Swami becomes a medium of their enlightenment, their path to spirituality, its a great thing (regardless of whether the Swami was a dacoit 3 days agao). Its only difficult when people take it too seriously, start worshiping these guys, forming their own cults and try and try and impose their beliefs on others. Well.. we can go on and on about this one.

Bapujee Parseltongued !! LOL good analogy.

jedi
7 Jedi May 25th, 2006 at 8:56 am

@Princess and Karan:
I dont mind Amritanandmayi jee giving hugs, as long as I dont have to listen to her In fact, I think thats very smart on her part. Hugging so many people though.. She must smell like a garden by the end of the day (so many people, so many deos)

For Tarunsagarji well.. All I can say is, Good on ya mate!!!

jedi
8 SS May 25th, 2006 at 9:06 pm

I really dont know what to say. I love cricket and loads of other sports. I get great thrill out of it but i m not mad about it. But when u r in india u just get caught up in all the madness and poof before u realise the whole day is gone. And whats left of it depends on whether ur team one or lost.

As for swamijis and matajis i hate them all. They are there just to take advatage of innocent desperate people. Not believe in any religion also. They are all man made and hence flawed. What ever good they represent we humans ignore it mostly. All we end up dong in the end is tying to prove that our religion is superior than others or others r completly wrong. Personally i only believe in humanity. As long as u try and do good u r fine. Rest is all speculation or may i say FAITH. But me I rather have faith in humanity than any swamiji or mataji, pr any religion or any god/goddess who i have never seen or have no proof exists.

SS

ps. please dont start posting comments like god exists and stuff. You can believe what u want I respect all yours faith please respect mine.
9 SS May 25th, 2006 at 9:18 pm

My apologies if my comment has hurt anyone. I didnt mean to be so harsh but the moment i hear about these swamijis and matajis my blood starts boiling. So many people are dying of hunger and poverty but these b***y people are filling their bank accounts and having time of their lives all in the name of god. They preach as saints but act as royalty. They make people keep fast to achieve enlightment and i bet none of them would ever jump a meal.

there is so much i can say but i guess u hv got my drift. I dont want to talk about it anymore, it just makes me very sad.

SS
10 Jedi May 26th, 2006 at 8:45 am

@SS: I cannot confirm with any certainity whether God really exists or not. But as far as believing in God and his “messengers” is concerned I agree with you. Its all a matter of Faith!

And since we are talking about faith I think its extends far and wide and wont be limited to only to an imaginary God, but also to statues, places, inanimate objects and also people. Just as people find an idol as a medium to communicate with God, so would they find some human being in the form of a prophet or a Swami as a medium to reach God. If its purely that, then I have little objection to this.

But, as you say, 9 out of 10 times these men of God, are in the business of brainwashing people and making money through them. And have very little to offer in terms of real spirituality.

Yes I completely agree with you when you say that Faith in humanity ought to be our primary goal. At the same time I think human beings are essentially flawed and get disappointed with each other, and hence need to believe in something more pure and supernatural and amazing - thus pushing them again towards the “need” of a God. lol

Its an interesting debate!

jedi
11 Ravi Bhargav Jul 27th, 2006 at 4:58 am

Asaram Bapu is not a god, he has made it big by exploiting young kids since 93-till now. Those kids who were recruited by him in starting 93 they are now left with no family, no career, and had given up all their savings to his ashram. Asaram is like a osama bin laden of India who has learned the art of speaking from Lila shah and then used it exploit Hindu religious beliefs.
Asaram is involved in countless number of crimes including murder in Rajokri, Delhi, land grabbing from devotees in number of states. but as in almost all of the high profile cases either cases gets dropped due to influence or the victim is threatened or murdered. What if asaram was checked for security reasons, it was a disgrace to India that his followers who are infact are his sadaks sewadaars is like a mini army he has, and uses the same muscle power. He used the same muscle when Nana Patekar spoke against him, when a journalist in tried to write against him. he is an Hitler who doesn’t lets anyone speak against him. And has thousands of people who are brainwashed to work in his ashram in Ahmedabad. Don’t mix other swamis or maa’s with asaram because everyone is different but I am talking about asaram bapu here. He is not a saint instead he is the one who has over 600 million dollars in America lying in cash with a doctor. He has acquired ,cheated, grabbed countless number of properties from farmers valuing in thousands of crores of rupees in India. Most of these properties are grabbed by him by muscle power or through influence and manipulation. In some cases victims went ahead and filed court cases and also were able to get their property back from this con man.

He runs his ashram for spiritual abuse, Millions of people who watch his show on
TV which are paid advertisement, he buy’s 1/2 hour slots for a month and pays 5-50 lakh rupees a month depending on the channel to promote his name. He has his posters stickers in freaking every tom dick corner of the city for free. he has polluted most of the cities with his posters about his next programme in the city. Not only he pollutes the city with his banners posters but he also collects around over a crore rupee per satsang he delivers, not to mention its all tax free, which goes in his pocket for his son , daughter luxurious lifestyles. Here and there he will also give away as donation couple of lakh rupees in front of media to get publicity to another charity organization which may also be run by his sewadaars only.

It’s all marketing and gimmick to collect money and abuse religious sentiments. Asaram and his son both calls themselves as god, if these crooks are god then what happened to my Ram ji, Krishan ji. Sadhu samaj who belive in spirituality and teaches you to serve your parents as sharvan is against these father and son criminals. because asaram picks up selected people who can be exploited and then have them give up their wife, parents, kids and turn over your money to him and work in his ashram as slave in the name of sadaks.

Asaram bapu is a shameless creature whose goal was to get popularity at any cost , and in the mean time he has ruined thousands of lives who believed in him.

Asaram baou should be put on trial and everyone who has been hurt by him should come forward, there will countless number of people when he will not be able to threaten people who speaks truthg about him.

By ex
Sant Asaram Bapu follower who left because asaram is not a god.
12 Jedi Jul 27th, 2006 at 11:05 pm

@Ravi: Thats an interesting insight into the activities of the Swami, Ravi. I must say I was unaware of most of this.

Thanks for the comment. Do keep visiting,

jedi
13 Kirit Patel Dec 18th, 2006 at 12:35 pm

There is much more expose on this aish araam Asaram Bapu . & his son Narain Sai.
14 ravi Patel Nov 5th, 2007 at 9:27 pm

bapu is not god.

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Return of the Swami - Day 19

14 Responses to “Return of the Swami - Day 19”

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