tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31351038.post4913367420318036767..comments2024-03-26T13:06:41.178-04:00Comments on Jagat: Sleazy sadhusJagadananda Dashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05887720845815026518noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31351038.post-73802376465548989022010-03-25T18:39:23.085-04:002010-03-25T18:39:23.085-04:00Your article is right to the point and done with g...Your article is right to the point and done with great sobriety.<br /><br />Your writing has reached a great maturity and a power of expression that I have rarely seen amongst Vaishnavas.<br /><br />This is truly powerful writing and with great power comes great responsibility.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31351038.post-80559179625653316982010-03-24T03:28:05.266-04:002010-03-24T03:28:05.266-04:00Jagat-ji,
WIth all this sleaze about gurus runnin...Jagat-ji,<br /><br />WIth all this sleaze about gurus running amok, I was wondering how Swami Veda dealt with the sexual controversies surrounding his guru, Swami Rama of the Himalayas.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31351038.post-77721937419496826612010-03-19T01:58:13.327-04:002010-03-19T01:58:13.327-04:00@ Hesitant: I think its about both, sexuality and ...@ Hesitant: I think its about both, sexuality and humanness. Because both are intrinsically connected. But perhaps its more about humanness in general than the sexuality aspect in particular. Indeed, people project in to another human being those things that they are not willing to do themselves, i.e., become pure, austere, overcoming - in short, transcend a sense of self which they are not very happy with. The failure they so readily condemn in a busted guru is actually the disgust they feel about their own failure in becoming a better individual. 'Better' a representative word for happier, more complete, capable of reaching an ideal which is a combination of such large number of perfect characteristics that it becomes nearly an irrational state of being. No human being can be such, and yet the guru is supposed to be so, and make others like him too. It really isn't a reasonable proposition.<br /><br />I think the very concept of guru tattva has to be greatly revised by a class of sensible people in the world today.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31351038.post-48485552211431375002010-03-18T11:06:28.803-04:002010-03-18T11:06:28.803-04:00I don't think the question is about the sexual...I don't think the question is about the sexuality. Despite what people say/think, Nithyananda is by all accounts a popular guru and has vast ashram properties to his name. As well as claiming two million devotees including high-flying politicians, I understand he claims to be an avatar of Shiva and is revered as such by his devotees.<br /><br />The outrage is really about disciples finding out that their revered divine guru is after all a common man with feet of clay.Neural Outlawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12299570389772377623noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31351038.post-20891276692614389142010-03-18T07:08:38.489-04:002010-03-18T07:08:38.489-04:00I wonder how this is dissimlar to many examples ge...I wonder how this is dissimlar to many examples generously provided to us by Iskcon?<br />Mockery, lie, personality cult, trash swept regularly under the carpet, lust for money and power, endless need for more disciples and worshippers (or in short -- money and status), scandals all over the place, bigger than life projects, temple building, children and women abused, treated as trash, explosion of vanity over real substance ...<br />I think it's about time such kind of religious farce goes off the stage, once and for all. I believe many people in good conscience will choose pure atheism than a charade like this. Even in atheism there is 6 out of 7 letters that contain a word and idea about God, but in this ... none.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31351038.post-73228564648809902302010-03-17T22:39:36.277-04:002010-03-17T22:39:36.277-04:00Moreover, in the Indian socio-religious scene, 2 r...Moreover, in the Indian socio-religious scene, 2 relationship statuses are accepted and honored:<br /><br />1. single and celibate or,<br />2. married<br /><br />There is no room for any gray area.<br /><br />But does every individual fit neatly into either one of these for their entire life? Hardly.<br /><br />Could there be room for men and women who do in fact want to make spiritual pursuits their life's work and at the same time do not wish to be either completely celibate on one end, or married and tied to family samsar for eternity on the other?<br /><br />Setting an entire nation up with only these 2 limited choices is what causes people like Nithyananda to take his relationships on the downlow. <br /><br />Sneaking around and hiding, living a double life, these are symptoms of a shame-based culture.<br /><br />Now, if India recognized that someone can be both spiritual AND also inclined to pair-bonding with the opposite sex without entering the deep, dark, entrenching well that IS the Indian marriage and family system, then he would not have had to be "sleazy" about having a girlfriend.Consortnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31351038.post-91131376878377061082010-03-17T21:33:23.883-04:002010-03-17T21:33:23.883-04:00Lots of good points, Consort.Lots of good points, Consort.Jagadananda Dashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05887720845815026518noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31351038.post-40725120987867427152010-03-17T21:32:01.839-04:002010-03-17T21:32:01.839-04:00I agree that the status should be clear. The Gayat...I agree that the status should be clear. The Gayatri parivar, for instance, always shows both the guru and his wife in their posters. <br /><br />This is just the dominant mood, that is all.Jagadananda Dashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05887720845815026518noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31351038.post-40875622666052737222010-03-17T21:30:15.868-04:002010-03-17T21:30:15.868-04:00PSS: I clicked on one of the links you provided an...PSS: I clicked on one of the links you provided and I see that nothing short of the common misconceptions about human sexuality fuels Swami Ram Dev's view:<br /><br />Shimla, March 10: "Patanjali Yogpeeth founder Baba Ramdev today demanded capital punishment for fraud religious leaders who who indulge in outraging the modesty of women"<br /><br />This term, "outragin the modesty of women" is an Indian euphemism for "rape", much in the same way "eve teasing" is their euphemism for "sexual harrassement".<br /><br />So, what women have Nithyananda raped? He was having a mutually consensual sexual relationship with at least one woman we know of, Ranjitha the buxom South Indian actress, but how is that "outraging her modesty"???<br /><br />This confusion between CONSENSUAL relationships and non-consensual attacks such as rape or street sexual harrassement is something to this day, a large number of Indians have a difficult time distinguishing between.<br /><br />Case in point: I remember reading several times in Indian newspapers about how Indian police forces, in an attempt at cracking down on "eve teasers" actually ended up slapping and beating COUPLES in parks who were holding hands and "sitting too close". They even slapped around a brother and sister pair!<br /><br />When these couples proceded to tell them, "um, he's not harrassing me, he's my BOYFRIEND", the police didn't "get it" and still thought something "wrong" or "illegal" was going on.<br /><br />Similarly, I've seen a lot of comments referring to Nithyananda's relationship with Ranjitha as being "illegal". <br /><br />While it may very well be "immoral" in the eyes of many, a grown adult man and a grown adult woman having a consensual relationship certainly is NOT illegal. <br /><br />So until it becomes clear in the minds of the "aam admi" of India the difference between CONSENSUAL and NON-CONSENSUAL and "legal" and "illegal" in the same token, I don't see much progress being made there in terms of male/female relations or even just a basic understanding of human sexuality.Consortnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31351038.post-21165450446384203182010-03-17T18:54:35.578-04:002010-03-17T18:54:35.578-04:00PS: In addition to the above I feel that alot of t...PS: In addition to the above I feel that alot of the "rage" against Nithyananda stems from a repressed sexual frustration and envy within the angry mobs themselves. So the guy is getting some and you're not - is that a reason to storm his ashrams and start beating INNOCENT RESIDENTS therein?<br /><br />Seems so, in India at least.Consortnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31351038.post-15936871575167871642010-03-17T18:46:31.939-04:002010-03-17T18:46:31.939-04:00This is nothing new. Take the "devi dasi&quo...This is nothing new. Take the "devi dasi" system of families "donating" child-daughters as "wives of God" in the temples. My hunch is that this was an authentic and sincere tradition at one time wherein the position of the Devi Dasi was honored, but the temple pandas discovered soon enough that they could make money by pimping these girls and women out, and hence the tradition fell into ruin and now is completely wiped out. The good thing is that temple dance went "mainstream" and now you and I can sit down and enjoy a good "Bharatnatyam" performance practically anywhere in the world.<br /><br />Nithyananda still could have been "Nithyananda" even if he hadn't donned saffron. There's now a world famous Indian couple, I think they go by the names "Bhagawan and Bhagwati" who have started this "deeksha" movement that is sweeping the globe. They have a multi-million dollar center in India and are worshipped by thousands of sheeple. <br /><br />Indians do not require their sadhus to be single or celibate, just to be transparant with regards to their "status".<br /><br />Of course, the only other acceptable "status" in the eyes of the Indian public is a legal and religious marriage.<br /><br />No girlfriend shmirlfriend bizniz!Consortnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31351038.post-62193868222525242282010-03-17T12:40:31.653-04:002010-03-17T12:40:31.653-04:00It's unfortunate that this sort of ignorance h...It's unfortunate that this sort of ignorance has been exported to the West and accepted by a good number of people.Steve Bohlerthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03452923540293133909noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31351038.post-91334174083903685322010-03-17T11:06:50.489-04:002010-03-17T11:06:50.489-04:00Jay Nitai,
Very well written.
SubrataJay Nitai,<br /><br />Very well written.<br /><br />SubrataSubratahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14736333342339869921noreply@blogger.com