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INDIA’S ‘GODMEN’ FACE QUESTIONS ABOUT WEALTH
By Simon Denyer
Washington Post
July 12, 2011http://nhne-pulse.org/indias-godmen-face-questions-about-wealth/
PUTTAPARTHI, INDIA – For centuries, their image was as barefoot ascetics
who spent their lives in solitary Himalayan meditation.But now Indias gurus, miracle workers and spiritual leaders, often
collectively known as godmen, have become savvy, powerful figures who
control vast philanthropic and business empires, dabble in politics and
manipulate the media.With that power and wealth, however, have come questions about the
business of religion, fueled in recent months by the discoveries of
hoards of gold, silver, diamonds and cash, the declaration of assets
running into hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars, and
accusations of money laundering.The godmen range from miracle-workers and living gods, such as
Sathya Sai Baba, the diminutive holy man with a black Afro who left
behind a secret trove of gold, silver and cash when he died in April, to
yoga gurus including Baba Ramdev, a television star who joined a popular
campaign against official corruption, only to be investigated for tax
evasion.The rising wealth and prominence of the godmen in the past two decades
has accompanied rising incomes in India and the liberalization of the
media. To an extent, it also mirrors the rising political popularity of
the Hindu nationalist movement, with its assertion of pride in Hindu
traditions and values.But their popularity is more an expression of the extraordinary
religiosity of the Indian people, which has withstood the forces of
education and modernization, said historian Ramchandra Guha. Its
manifestation is the offering of money and jewels to a deity, whether
living or frozen in stone.Often their most devoted followers come from the middle classes, and
donations also stream in from Indians abroad. The flood of money is
partly a function of the huge rise in disposable income that many
Indians now enjoy, but some sociologists say it reflects a need to
balance newfound wealth with old-fashioned values.The Indian middle classes are a very schizophrenic bunch of people,
said Meera Nanda, author of The God Market: How Globalization Is Making
India More Hindu, who argues that it is time the religious trusts were
properly regulated, audited and taxed. They look at renunciation,
asceticism, a life of simplicity as a higher ideal, but that is an ideal
hardly anyone can live up to with this growing wealth. Giving ends up
doing the balancing act for them.And give they certainly have.
When Sai Baba died in April, his personal chambers were found to contain
$2.8 million in cash, along with gold and silver worth about $5 million.
Cupboards contained cloth bags filled with diamonds, hundreds of robes,
more than 500 pairs of shoes and dozens of bottles of perfume and hair
spray.While his followers insist Sai Baba never even had a bank account, the
trust in his name is thought to be worth about $10 billion.Modern Celebrity Culture
While Sai Baba generated mystique by limiting his private audiences, the
black-bearded and bare-chested Ramdevs popularity owes more than a
little to modern celebrity culture.Like television evangelists in the United States, Ramdev is one of a new
generation of gurus skilled at manipulating modern media. At least 30
million people tune into his daily TV program, and he said last year
that television had made him a hundred times more powerful.But when he joined a popular movement against official corruption with a
brief fast in June, Ramdevs supporters were beaten and tear-gassed by
police and he was forced to declare his assets.His trust alone was found to be worth $250 million, a figure that
probably includes his yoga university but not his Scottish island —
renamed Peace Island — or global business interests that include a
pharmaceutical company producing ayurvedic medicine and herbal products.The government, seeing Ramdev as a political rival, first accused him of
money laundering and then opened an income-tax investigation.The numbers are staggering, but the ideas that fabulous wealth resides
in these places is not a surprise, said social commentator and
columnist Santosh Desai, who says that followers often take pride in the
wealth of their chosen gurus. It is curious in a way, for something
ostensibly about a distance from things material and closeness to things
spiritual, the two sit side by side very comfortably.Spiritual Succor
While some of the self-styled godmen are crooks or charlatans, many
provide immense spiritual succor to their followers. When Sai Baba died
of heart failure, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called it an
irreparable loss, describing him as a spiritual leader who inspired
millions.Sai Babas philosophy of love, social service and the universality of
all religions proved both appealing and powerful, with his motto of
Love all, serve all, and his message that more merit could be gained
through service to humanity than through religious observance.Once a tiny, impoverished Indian village, his birthplace of Puttaparthi
in southern India is now a small city, boasting an airport, a four-lane
highway, a free hospital, a university, a music college, a space
theater, a stadium and an international sports hall, all painted in
pastel shades of yellow, orange, blue and pink.But with the vast wealth have come, almost inevitably, questions about
whether that money was being properly accounted for, and whose pockets
it was ending up in. Those questions were fueled when police stopped a
car leaving Puttaparthi shortly after the gurus death that contained
nearly $1 million in cash.Police say they and the income tax department are carrying out parallel
investigations, and some Puttaparthi residents took to the streets this
month to call for more transparency in the way Sai Babas estate is run.Yet few of his devotees, who include some of Indias leading politicians
and industrialists, as well as Goldie Hawn and Hard Rock Cafe founder
Isaac Tigrett, seem to care. Indias most famous cricketer, Sachin
Tendulkar, wept openly at Sai Babas funeral.You can see all the buildings and you can go there, so at least part of
the money was spent on something good, Michiel Vanaerschot, 24, of
Belgium said with a slight shrug. People who dont believe, they just
cant handle it.At Prashanti Nilayam, or Temple of Peace, the sprawling ashram at the
heart of his empire, devotees talk of how Sai Baba appeared in their
dreams, of miracles he had performed to heal them or their family
members, or, like Marie Duffy, 25, of Ireland, just of the extraordinary
energy of the place.But his record was also deeply controversial. Allegations of sexual
abuse of teenage boys surfaced repeatedly, although no charges were ever
brought; video evidence seemed to show that some of his trademark
miracles, regurgitating a golden egg or producing a Rolex watch out of
thin air, were merely sleight of hand.……………….
RELATED LINK:
Pulse on Sai Baba
http://nhne-pulse.org/sai-baba/INDIA’S ‘GODMEN’ FACE QUESTIONS ABOUT WEALTH
By Simon Denyer
Washington Post
July 12, 2011http://nhne-pulse.org/indias-godmen-face-questions-about-wealth/
PUTTAPARTHI, INDIA – For centuries, their image was as barefoot ascetics
who spent their lives in solitary Himalayan meditation.But now Indias gurus, miracle workers and spiritual leaders, often
collectively known as godmen, have become savvy, powerful figures who
control vast philanthropic and business empires, dabble in politics and
manipulate the media.With that power and wealth, however, have come questions about the
business of religion, fueled in recent months by the discoveries of
hoards of gold, silver, diamonds and cash, the declaration of assets
running into hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars, and
accusations of money laundering.The godmen range from miracle-workers and living gods, such as
Sathya Sai Baba, the diminutive holy man with a black Afro who left
behind a secret trove of gold, silver and cash when he died in April, to
yoga gurus including Baba Ramdev, a television star who joined a popular
campaign against official corruption, only to be investigated for tax
evasion.The rising wealth and prominence of the godmen in the past two decades
has accompanied rising incomes in India and the liberalization of the
media. To an extent, it also mirrors the rising political popularity of
the Hindu nationalist movement, with its assertion of pride in Hindu
traditions and values.But their popularity is more an expression of the extraordinary
religiosity of the Indian people, which has withstood the forces of
education and modernization, said historian Ramchandra Guha. Its
manifestation is the offering of money and jewels to a deity, whether
living or frozen in stone.Often their most devoted followers come from the middle classes, and
donations also stream in from Indians abroad. The flood of money is
partly a function of the huge rise in disposable income that many
Indians now enjoy, but some sociologists say it reflects a need to
balance newfound wealth with old-fashioned values.The Indian middle classes are a very schizophrenic bunch of people,
said Meera Nanda, author of The God Market: How Globalization Is Making
India More Hindu, who argues that it is time the religious trusts were
properly regulated, audited and taxed. They look at renunciation,
asceticism, a life of simplicity as a higher ideal, but that is an ideal
hardly anyone can live up to with this growing wealth. Giving ends up
doing the balancing act for them.And give they certainly have.
When Sai Baba died in April, his personal chambers were found to contain
$2.8 million in cash, along with gold and silver worth about $5 million.
Cupboards contained cloth bags filled with diamonds, hundreds of robes,
more than 500 pairs of shoes and dozens of bottles of perfume and hair
spray.While his followers insist Sai Baba never even had a bank account, the
trust in his name is thought to be worth about $10 billion.Modern Celebrity Culture
While Sai Baba generated mystique by limiting his private audiences, the
black-bearded and bare-chested Ramdevs popularity owes more than a
little to modern celebrity culture.Like television evangelists in the United States, Ramdev is one of a new
generation of gurus skilled at manipulating modern media. At least 30
million people tune into his daily TV program, and he said last year
that television had made him a hundred times more powerful.But when he joined a popular movement against official corruption with a
brief fast in June, Ramdevs supporters were beaten and tear-gassed by
police and he was forced to declare his assets.His trust alone was found to be worth $250 million, a figure that
probably includes his yoga university but not his Scottish island —
renamed Peace Island — or global business interests that include a
pharmaceutical company producing ayurvedic medicine and herbal products.The government, seeing Ramdev as a political rival, first accused him of
money laundering and then opened an income-tax investigation.The numbers are staggering, but the ideas that fabulous wealth resides
in these places is not a surprise, said social commentator and
columnist Santosh Desai, who says that followers often take pride in the
wealth of their chosen gurus. It is curious in a way, for something
ostensibly about a distance from things material and closeness to things
spiritual, the two sit side by side very comfortably.Spiritual Succor
While some of the self-styled godmen are crooks or charlatans, many
provide immense spiritual succor to their followers. When Sai Baba died
of heart failure, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called it an
irreparable loss, describing him as a spiritual leader who inspired
millions.Sai Babas philosophy of love, social service and the universality of
all religions proved both appealing and powerful, with his motto of
Love all, serve all, and his message that more merit could be gained
through service to humanity than through religious observance.Once a tiny, impoverished Indian village, his birthplace of Puttaparthi
in southern India is now a small city, boasting an airport, a four-lane
highway, a free hospital, a university, a music college, a space
theater, a stadium and an international sports hall, all painted in
pastel shades of yellow, orange, blue and pink.But with the vast wealth have come, almost inevitably, questions about
whether that money was being properly accounted for, and whose pockets
it was ending up in. Those questions were fueled when police stopped a
car leaving Puttaparthi shortly after the gurus death that contained
nearly $1 million in cash.Police say they and the income tax department are carrying out parallel
investigations, and some Puttaparthi residents took to the streets this
month to call for more transparency in the way Sai Babas estate is run.Yet few of his devotees, who include some of Indias leading politicians
and industrialists, as well as Goldie Hawn and Hard Rock Cafe founder
Isaac Tigrett, seem to care. Indias most famous cricketer, Sachin
Tendulkar, wept openly at Sai Babas funeral.You can see all the buildings and you can go there, so at least part of
the money was spent on something good, Michiel Vanaerschot, 24, of
Belgium said with a slight shrug. People who dont believe, they just
cant handle it.At Prashanti Nilayam, or Temple of Peace, the sprawling ashram at the
heart of his empire, devotees talk of how Sai Baba appeared in their
dreams, of miracles he had performed to heal them or their family
members, or, like Marie Duffy, 25, of Ireland, just of the extraordinary
energy of the place.But his record was also deeply controversial. Allegations of sexual
abuse of teenage boys surfaced repeatedly, although no charges were ever
brought; video evidence seemed to show that some of his trademark
miracles, regurgitating a golden egg or producing a Rolex watch out of
thin air, were merely sleight of hand.……………….
RELATED LINK:
Pulse on Sai Baba
http://nhne-pulse.org/sai-baba/note: the most amusing detail to arise (for me) is that Sai Baba had 500 pairs of shoes…..perhaps he wore diffferent shoes while engaging in his fondness for young boys? The imbalances in his field sand his skills uggest to me he was a demon immortal, back in a human body to try to improve on his previous power plays in the astral. Whether his pederasty was counted against his rehab score, I have no idea. ……-michael
INDIA’S ‘GODMEN’ FACE QUESTIONS ABOUT WEALTH
By Simon Denyer
Washington Post
July 12, 2011http://nhne-pulse.org/indias-godmen-face-questions-about-wealth/
PUTTAPARTHI, INDIA – For centuries, their image was as barefoot ascetics
who spent their lives in solitary Himalayan meditation.But now Indias gurus, miracle workers and spiritual leaders, often
collectively known as godmen, have become savvy, powerful figures who
control vast philanthropic and business empires, dabble in politics and
manipulate the media.With that power and wealth, however, have come questions about the
business of religion, fueled in recent months by the discoveries of
hoards of gold, silver, diamonds and cash, the declaration of assets
running into hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars, and
accusations of money laundering.The godmen range from miracle-workers and living gods, such as
Sathya Sai Baba, the diminutive holy man with a black Afro who left
behind a secret trove of gold, silver and cash when he died in April, to
yoga gurus including Baba Ramdev, a television star who joined a popular
campaign against official corruption, only to be investigated for tax
evasion.The rising wealth and prominence of the godmen in the past two decades
has accompanied rising incomes in India and the liberalization of the
media. To an extent, it also mirrors the rising political popularity of
the Hindu nationalist movement, with its assertion of pride in Hindu
traditions and values.But their popularity is more an expression of the extraordinary
religiosity of the Indian people, which has withstood the forces of
education and modernization, said historian Ramchandra Guha. Its
manifestation is the offering of money and jewels to a deity, whether
living or frozen in stone.Often their most devoted followers come from the middle classes, and
donations also stream in from Indians abroad. The flood of money is
partly a function of the huge rise in disposable income that many
Indians now enjoy, but some sociologists say it reflects a need to
balance newfound wealth with old-fashioned values.The Indian middle classes are a very schizophrenic bunch of people,
said Meera Nanda, author of The God Market: How Globalization Is Making
India More Hindu, who argues that it is time the religious trusts were
properly regulated, audited and taxed. They look at renunciation,
asceticism, a life of simplicity as a higher ideal, but that is an ideal
hardly anyone can live up to with this growing wealth. Giving ends up
doing the balancing act for them.And give they certainly have.
When Sai Baba died in April, his personal chambers were found to contain
$2.8 million in cash, along with gold and silver worth about $5 million.
Cupboards contained cloth bags filled with diamonds, hundreds of robes,
more than 500 pairs of shoes and dozens of bottles of perfume and hair
spray.While his followers insist Sai Baba never even had a bank account, the
trust in his name is thought to be worth about $10 billion.Modern Celebrity Culture
While Sai Baba generated mystique by limiting his private audiences, the
black-bearded and bare-chested Ramdevs popularity owes more than a
little to modern celebrity culture.Like television evangelists in the United States, Ramdev is one of a new
generation of gurus skilled at manipulating modern media. At least 30
million people tune into his daily TV program, and he said last year
that television had made him a hundred times more powerful.But when he joined a popular movement against official corruption with a
brief fast in June, Ramdevs supporters were beaten and tear-gassed by
police and he was forced to declare his assets.His trust alone was found to be worth $250 million, a figure that
probably includes his yoga university but not his Scottish island —
renamed Peace Island — or global business interests that include a
pharmaceutical company producing ayurvedic medicine and herbal products.The government, seeing Ramdev as a political rival, first accused him of
money laundering and then opened an income-tax investigation.The numbers are staggering, but the ideas that fabulous wealth resides
in these places is not a surprise, said social commentator and
columnist Santosh Desai, who says that followers often take pride in the
wealth of their chosen gurus. It is curious in a way, for something
ostensibly about a distance from things material and closeness to things
spiritual, the two sit side by side very comfortably.Spiritual Succor
While some of the self-styled godmen are crooks or charlatans, many
provide immense spiritual succor to their followers. When Sai Baba died
of heart failure, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called it an
irreparable loss, describing him as a spiritual leader who inspired
millions.Sai Babas philosophy of love, social service and the universality of
all religions proved both appealing and powerful, with his motto of
Love all, serve all, and his message that more merit could be gained
through service to humanity than through religious observance.Once a tiny, impoverished Indian village, his birthplace of Puttaparthi
in southern India is now a small city, boasting an airport, a four-lane
highway, a free hospital, a university, a music college, a space
theater, a stadium and an international sports hall, all painted in
pastel shades of yellow, orange, blue and pink.But with the vast wealth have come, almost inevitably, questions about
whether that money was being properly accounted for, and whose pockets
it was ending up in. Those questions were fueled when police stopped a
car leaving Puttaparthi shortly after the gurus death that contained
nearly $1 million in cash.Police say they and the income tax department are carrying out parallel
investigations, and some Puttaparthi residents took to the streets this
month to call for more transparency in the way Sai Babas estate is run.Yet few of his devotees, who include some of Indias leading politicians
and industrialists, as well as Goldie Hawn and Hard Rock Cafe founder
Isaac Tigrett, seem to care. Indias most famous cricketer, Sachin
Tendulkar, wept openly at Sai Babas funeral.You can see all the buildings and you can go there, so at least part of
the money was spent on something good, Michiel Vanaerschot, 24, of
Belgium said with a slight shrug. People who dont believe, they just
cant handle it.At Prashanti Nilayam, or Temple of Peace, the sprawling ashram at the
heart of his empire, devotees talk of how Sai Baba appeared in their
dreams, of miracles he had performed to heal them or their family
members, or, like Marie Duffy, 25, of Ireland, just of the extraordinary
energy of the place.But his record was also deeply controversial. Allegations of sexual
abuse of teenage boys surfaced repeatedly, although no charges were ever
brought; video evidence seemed to show that some of his trademark
miracles, regurgitating a golden egg or producing a Rolex watch out of
thin air, were merely sleight of hand.……………….
RELATED LINK:
Pulse on Sai Baba
http://nhne-pulse.org/sai-baba/
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