Godmen and Gold in India * 77

 The ancient Hindu texts lay great stress on asceticism, penance and renunciation of the world.  The ancient books with all their lore emphasize this aspect of the Hindu religion repeatedly.  As per Hindu philosophy the ancient holy men and saints retired to the Himalayas to pray and do penance. There they developed spiritual powers.

 Even saints like Nanak, Kafir, and Namdev etc who travelled to far away places to preach travelled on foot. They did not do so on horses or chariots. But the dawn of the 20 the century has brought out a new set of baba’s who are the anti-thesis of what the Purana’s preach. These men travel by air-conditioned cars and have all the comforts available. In addition their trusts are worth hundreds of millions of dollars.  

  Thus men like Sathya sai baba, Baba Ramdev, Asa Ram Bapu among others all go against what the Gita has preached. The Sathya sai baba outdid him when after his demise 98 kg of gold and over 300 kg of silver was found in his private chambers. Another baba referred to as BAL yogi married his American secretary and one named Mahesh Yogi travelled to distant lands by his private jet plane. Not forgetting Acharya Rajneesh who travelled in fleets of Rolls Royce’s.

 The fact is that most of these God men thrive on the blind beliefs of the people. The large numbers of foreigners who flock to these ashrams   come with a fractured personal life and are thus easily susceptible to the aura of these babas and pseudo holy men.  A number of these holy men are under investigation of the Indian government and its enforcement directorate for tax evasion and money laundering. But the sad part is that people still flock to their ashrams and the rich make hefty donations. Perhaps it’s a sign of insecurity of the human being that propels him to take solace in the teachings of these babas