Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Wolves in sheep clothing

Given the rate at which godmen with dubious credentials are getting involved in scams and facing prosecution (persecution also ?), I foresee these below par sadhus getting together and forming an union. I can see it now - All India Sadhu Welfare and Upliftment Union (R).
Entry criteria would include the following but not be limited to:

At least one case of money laundering/molest/cheating/land grab registered against candidate.
Candidate should have spent at least one week in a prominent jail
Preference would be given to candidates who have linkups with leading film actresses
Preference would be given to candidates belonging to minority communities
Candidate's speeches should have been telecast on regional TV channels

The activities of the Union would include
Getting bail for members lodged in jails
Engage lawyers
PR

Well, I can only hope things don't come to such a pass. But seriously, I think the proliferation in the numbers of sadhus with dubious antecedents is a classic example of supply and demand. In today's rat race, dog-eat-dog world, happiness is at a premium. Everybody understands that. Everybody also knows that religion and spiritualism has the answer. But unfortunately, very few people understand how to use religion and spiritualism to get happiness. The vast majority are confused.
This section of population has left itself totally open for exploitation by unscruplous merchants of religion. They are sitting ducks, as it were.
So anybody with a penchant for marketing/public relations and possessing the gift of gab peddling stuff remotely resembling spiritualism is a magnet for these unfortunate people. People flock in large numbers behind these sadhus in the hope of increasing their happiness quotient.

But more often than not, the law of averages soon catches up with these sadhus. One can't fool everybody all the time, you see.
What follows is what we saw in the case of the now infamous Nityananda.

No comments: