WHEN 'BABA'S' TURN INO CEOs AND RUN 'SPIRITUALITY INC.'

By Ruma Dubey

Frozen baba?

We have just got over Baba Rampal and his antics and now we another Baba. This is actually a very peculiar case, of the Frozen Baba; funny if you are able to laugh at yourself or else, it is a pretty scary situation – we and our misguided philosophy of religion and guru’s.

So this Frozen Baba, once again in Punjab, was declared dead in January 2014. But the disciples at his ashram said that Baba was not dead but was in Samadhi and strangely, was kept in a freezing room – which is why Frozen Baba. In Feb, the state officials examined the baba and declared him clinically dead, with no pulse, no heartbeat. Another doctor was also called to certify the same. Yet the disciples refused to accept. Once again in May, another examination stated that the Baba was now shrunken and blackened. Yet, the disciples stuck to their belief – he was not dead, just in Samadhi and was sure to ‘return’ back into the body one day. It will be a year soon and yet this fiasco continues. The disciples do not know when he will ‘come back.’

This and the Rampal incidence really shake’s one’s complete belief in all that we call religion and spiritualism. If a person is in Samadhi, why does he need to be kept ‘preserved’ in a frozen room? The disciples say, “to recreate the Himalayan atmosphere.”  Seriously? A clinically dead body, how can one ‘come back?’ It defies everything that science has taught us. Yes, sometimes spiritualism is beyond the realm of science but it does not defy such basic science.  Those in the know say that there is a major criminal conspiracy here, with the baba’s networth placed at around Rs.1500 crore.

And that is the crux of the story here. It is sad that religion and spiritualism is being misused today, desecrating the very edifice on which both stand but what is also ironical is that spiritualism, whose essence is about rising above all things material, most of what we see today, under the garb of spiritualism is all about money, lust and all things material. Spirituality has turned into a multi billion dollar industry and all tax free.

So aren’t all these baba’s and swami’s a huge profit center? We talk only about India Inc but what about scores of these fraud baba’s all over India, making pots full of money by the hour, exploiting the insecurities and ignorance of the people? It is we the people who are also to blame – none of the baba’s force people to follow; they become these cult figures from nothingness because people believe in them and their ‘powers’. To a large extent, it would not be wrong to say that people without religious and spiritual intelligence have indirectly helped spirituality and religion, turn in to commercial activities.

The God men of the past, what we have learnt through the scriptures and religious texts, were all men of greatness, rising through great personal sacrifices, living a life of penury. Eating fruits, sleeping on the humble mat on the floor, walking across the length and breadth of the country, giving spiritual lessons to one and all for free – that is the kind of saints we have learnt about. Buddha or Jesus or Krishna did not charge a fee for their lessons.

But today’s baba’s are CEOs. They live plush lives, sleep on cushy beds, eating the richest of food, travel in imported, air-conditioned cars, flying all around the world, charging a bomb for their lessons. Yes, God has become a business today and spirituality has become the most sublime way to make tons of money, tax free too!

Almost all the spiritual schools and gurus today make a lot of money. But what is important to note is whether the money taken is spent for the overall good of the people – like schools, hospitals, free food for the poor. If all the money is pocketed with the Baba noticeably growing fatter and leading a plush lifestyle, you know you are surely being duped.

What is extremely scary is the way people put all their faith and sometimes, entire savings into the hands of these fraud sadhus. Yes, the quest for spiritual knowledge is our purpose of life but what most get from these baba’s are promises of making more money if they spend Rs.50,000 on a pooja or getting a son if they donate Rs.1 lakh or opportunity to go abroad if they do some yagna….so on. So every material pursuit is to be fulfilled by making a material contribution only; everything and anything which is so much unrelated to actual spirituality. If baba’s and swami’s could resolve everything with a pooja or yagna, why can’t we get the Kashmir issue resolved or peace in Afghanistan, propel the GDP to 20%, bring down interest rates to 0%?

These babas are marginalizing spiritual practice, making it into a mockery, demonizing it and watering down the rich, esoteric spiritual knowledge that we have.  Just as we have to be wary of rouge promoters in India Inc, one needs to be careful while attaching oneself to any spiritual guru. Seek the truth and not money, fame and power through spirituality – then it’s no longer spirituality, its Spiritual Inc that you need.