[Advaita-l] Swami Nithyananda

[V Subrahmanian]

Dear Satish ji,

You have highlighted some important issues.  Especially the ones regarding
conversion and the target of atheistic forces is of great concern to all our
Hindu Religious leaders, Peethadhipathis, big and small, cutting across
internal deity/school/sampradaya differences.

I have witnessed the Pejawar Mutt Seer (Madhva) working in unison with the
Adi Chunchanagiri Swami (Gowda/Vokkaliga).  They hold joint programmes,
share the same dias and address a lot of issues concerning the lower starata
of the society, caste-wise and class-wise.

If the lower caste Hindus have to be weaned away from the lures of the
forces bent upon conversion, a number of strategies become the need of the
hour.

Not all people of the Hindu fold are adhikAri-s for shAstra education.
There are a number of sections who do not even come under the varna dharma.
Their religious requirements, in the ultimate view of their spiritual
development must be taken care of.  Not all Peethams are cut out for this.
There is a need for certain kind of institutions, leaders, practices, etc.
that are suited for such people who do not come under the shAstra-adhikAri
groups.

As long as these leaders and  the institutions they run are not frauds, and
their goals are not anti social, adhArmic, there should be no condemning of
them.  Leaders, especially with charisma are looked upon by those special
groups, who indeed form the majority of our society, as those who can take
them up the spiritual ladder.

Take for instance the Melmaruvathur institution.  To my knowledge for the
last nearly three decades this institution has been a centre of great
religious awakening.  Innumerable people, especially from the non-brahmin
communities, are followers of this 'Amma' who is a male.  He is very famous
in that part of the Tamil Nadu state.  A lot of funds generagted there is
spent on professional education colleges, social upliftment programmes,
etc.  I have known a  number of Brahmin women and a few men too who are
ardent devotees of this 'Amma'.  They observe vratams, like Sabarimalai
devotees, annually and make devout pilgrimages.

The Sathya Sai phenomenon of Puttaparthi too is one such.  We may not see
much of ShAstra learning, etc. there.  Yet, these institutions provide great
solace to a large majority of the society.  Their religious and spiritual
needs are greatly catered to by these institutions.  I think the
proliferation of such institutions came as a natural consequence of people
realizing that the Peethams of the Top Class are more Brahmin-friendly and
to a certain extent non-inclusive.  This is a fact that none can deny.

At the end of the day, the test is: Is a leader and the institution
indulging in fraud, anti social, anti government and adhArmic activities?
If they can't be faulted on these grounds, there should be no objection to
their functioning, leading people to the higher spiritual goals.

We do not know who needs what kind of guidance.  The Protector, Provider God
has innumerable plans, devices, methods, paths laid out for each
individual.  He attracts people to His fold thru miracles, siddhis, cures
for afflictions, and the like.  For a vast majority of people the initial
steps to spirituality could be these.  They need to tread this path.  The
finer aspects of spiritual growth through shAstra shravaNam is a distant
goal for them.  They will be lead by Providence to this goal.  Several
factors are involved in this growth and Swamis and Swaminis of a variety of
class do have a role to play.

Om Tat Sat
v.subrahmanian

On Thu, Mar 18, 2010 at 3:09 PM, Satish Arigela <satisharigela at yahoo.com>wrote:

>
>
> Since it is a lengthy article, here are some highlights.
>
> "What became evident to me was that there was “cooperation” in informal and
> unofficial ways among the media, police and lower level judiciary. In fact,
> many third parties were aware of the attack in advance and had warned his
> people before it happened with specific details of the plan. For instance,
> one of his top devotees got a phone call from someone based in New York
> describing the media and police attack that was to come. His predictions
> turned out to be accurate but at that time the ashramites did not take the
> threat literally. He said that for the right sum of money he could be
> helpful in preventing such an attack. He claimed that the planning for this
> attack had started a year ago. He mentioned that a budget of Rs 200 crores
> was allocated by some overseas groups to demolish Hindu gurus especially in
> south India, and named two south Indian churches as the nodal agencies to
> coordinate this strategic plan. (I am presently pursuing these leads as
>  part of my book investigation.) "
>
> "
>
> "These common folks, mostly from the lower strata of Tamil
> society, had walked 300 kilometers for this journey which they saw as a
> spiritual pilgrimage. The reason for the anger of Christian and Dravidian
> forces is that his activities have put a dampener to conversions in many
> districts, and several Christians have return to Hinduism by getting
> initiated formally into his organization. The swami himself has spoken
> against conversions, and has also stated that the Dravidian movement had
> made Tamil people unspiritual in their lives, and that this had caused
> social decay. His Tamil language publications and courses have become his
> most popular ones, far exceeding the numbers in English. Also he is a very
> big threat because he is not a Brahmin. Because he cannot be targeted using
> the classical attack on Brahmins, and because the masses in Tamil Nadu were
> rising to swell his ranks, the threat he posed to the existing political
> power structure had to be stopped one way or another."
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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