Dear all
In the light of this enormous media tirade against a spiritual Guru, his followers and his Ashram, as a person in public life and as an individual, I am provoked to share my personal experiences and views.
While sensationalising and breaking stories is acceptedly what sells in the media bazar today and since the video footage did serve the purpose of being a delicios meal for the hungry media, they went all out and devoured, in the process not only eating their meal but also went all out gulped so much that they eventually ended up throwing up.
Some of the issues that perhaps the so called "National (Electronic)Media" meant for public consumption, here public includes men, women and "children" failed to hold themselves resposible for include
1) Assuming but not coceding that the video footage is true, should it being telecast on primetime and repeatedly(read a million times)so?
2) Should the media choose this to be the best time to investigate
i) if the Bidadi land legitimately belonged to the Ashram?
ii) if young men and women were held in wrongful confinement?
iii) if all the women that went to the Ashram especially film stars had illicit affairs with Paramahamsa Nithyananda?
IV) if they illegally stacked sandalwood and animal skin
v) if the Ashram had encraoched land?
Were all the brains of these so called investigative journalists out on a long holiday prior to March 3rd?
3 Did the media bother to check if so far there have been any complaints of criminal nature against either the Swamiji or his disciples in the past before spitting unsubstatiated FIRs of attempt to rape, homosexuality, criminal intimidation? All of these offences could not have been committed on March 2nd? If they indeed had been committed earlier, then why were they not reported? Neither the Tamil Ndu Government nor the Karnataka Government came to the rescue of the Swamiji, clearly showing that he had no real political clout...how then could he have prevented the so called victims from reporting?
4)Did the media even bother to meet the real inmates of the Ashram to get their views on their Guru?
5 Before naming all other actresses who were devotees as possible victims of the Swamiji, did the media choose to ask anyone of them what they thought?
6)Did the media bother to ask the CM and all other members of the Karnataka
Government who have visited the Ashram what they thought of the Ashram(otherwise) earlier?
7) Did the media get necessary documentary evidence before speculating on financial frauds and offences that the Ashram is alleged to have committed?
The list is endless....
What pains me is the fact that our people consume the poison that media spits as it is and get drunk on it and start talking. No one bothered to ask any of these questions before abusing Swamiji for everything that neither he has committed nor he is resposible for. If we didnt know him at all, why suddenly should he bother us so much?
Well the thing is, such moments give us the vicarious pleasure of justifying all the wrongs that we have committed. By abusing and mocking the so called immoral activity that the Swamiji indulged in, we cleanse ourselves of all the guilt that we have derived from our very own (personal) immoral behaviour in the past. Now is the time...to wipe out all the secrets that we hid from our spouses, children and friends, lets admit-THERE ARE NO HIDDEN CAMERAS IN OUR BEDROOMS OR IN THE BEDROOMS OF THE SO CALLED JOURNALISTS, MEDIA BARONS AND POLITICIANS who are crying foul. If there were cameras, there would be no media space for either politics or cricket.
I have no shame in admitting that I am a regular visitor of the Bidadi Ashram and am eternally grateful to Swamiji for initiating me on the spiritual path. i have no shame in admitting that I have been participating in his meditation programs and benifitted enormously from over 100hrs of discourses on Shiva Sutras, Jain Sutras, Patanjali Yoga Sutras, Bhagavadgeeta. My family including my parents and son have experinced the benefits of healing from Swamiji. Interestingly I was first taken to the Ashram by the legendary Vishnuvardhan who was a devotee. Joining the bandwagon of the so called actor intellectuals who have been regulars at the Ashram are cynics like Vivek, Parthiban and Visu. Life solutions as well as the spiritual journey that he has set me on are irreversible truths.
WHO BETTER THAN AN ACTRESS LIKE ME (accepted to be good looking) to testify that the Swamiji did not display any behaviour that caused discomfort to me as a woman?
Having said all this, the video footage is disturbing. I am unable to bridge the endless intellect, the energy giver, the healer, the smiling saint who one could connect with without actually meeting him daily, a Master who made celibacy even for married people seem so easy, the Master to millions
AND
"This hideous video" that displays mere fulfilment of base passions!!!
