How does India get its godmen and godwomen? It might just be easier than getting a blue tick on Twitter
Nidhi Chaintanya feels there's no mandate on how and when someone becomes a guru. Pic/Sneha Kharabe
It's been a peculiar time for India. In the last few years, some of the country's most well-known "gurus" have been charged with corruption and harassment and, in the case of Asaram and Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, convicted of sexual assault. Every other week, a new, yet-unheard-of-guru springs up. It's perhaps in this context that a talk at Khar's The Habitat, gained much curiosity this weekend.
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Titled Conversation on Gurudom, the talk held by Nidhi Chaitanya a subjective scientist and idea archaeologist, aimed to breakdown this question: "When we look at Saint Dr Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Insan, I ask what all can a guru be? Actor, director, rockstar, action director, choreographer, scriptwriter, singer, lyricist, costume designer, director of photography, voice-over artiste, sound designer, publicity designer, creative director, DJ head?"
In April this year, self styled godman Asaram Bapu was pronounced guilty of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl
It's an interesting question, as, considering India's own history with gurus, there seems to be no clear mandate on how and when someone becomes a guru.Chaitanya, seated in a room at her Vile Parle office with one wall lined from top to bottom with books most of them pertaining to the subject of spirituality, points out that there's no organised structure to who can become a guru in India. "There's no licence system or checks on quality. There's also no check on lineage. Questions like 'what is this guru's philosophy', 'where is he/she coming from?' are rarely asked. For instance, if we look at Plato, his teacher was Socrates, and Aristotle was Plato's student."
Bhavdeep Kang, a journalist who in 2016 wrote the book, Gurus: Stories of India's Leading Babas, adds over an email interview, "There's no one path to becoming a guru. Some, like Chandraswami, may have been predisposed to spiritualism from an early age. Others, like Bhayyuji Maharaj, may have found their spiritual calling later in life. For some, enlightenment or self-realisation may have been the result of intense effort. No two stories are the same. After a guru becomes established and acquires a following, a mythology develops around him or her. Anecdotes are told about their birth and childhood, seeking to establish that they were special and enjoyed divine favour from the very beginning. There's no way of sifting fact from fiction."
For her book, Kang interviewed Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Baba Ramdev, Bhaiyyuji Maharaj, Mata Amritanandmayee and Morari Bapu. On the question on how these gurus have gained a massive following over the years, she says, "A guru who is charismatic, intelligent and widely read and is highly perceptive and empathetic will find a following very quickly. Morari Bapu's path was different. He is a kathakar and a deeply spiritual person, but he didn't set out to become a guru. That's the key thing. If people perceive you as a guru, you are one."
Over the years, Chaitanya has come across several people, who have proclaimed themselves to be gurus. She narrates an incident of a student from Florida, who had come to her to study philosophy a few years ago. "She was there only for a short while. It had in fact not even been two months when she said she was done with studying and left the course," says Chaitanya. Two years after this, on a visit to Chennai, Chaitanya found that the student had an ashram in south India. "But, she had no philosophical depth."
How then, does someone become a guru and set up an ashram? The first step is finding a following. And, it may not be the most difficult thing to do. Once you espouse a certain view of the world, you will find someone who will be ready to follow your path, says Chaitanya, remarking that "faith is an illogical thing". And, setting up an ashram is just a matter of money. Once you set up a trust — and there's no regulations or checks on who can set up an ashram as it's a religious matter — people will donate money. That there are tax benefits involved also blurs the lines.
Where then does the public need to step in and judge whom to follow and whom not to? Chaitanya says that aside from lineage the other thing to watch out for is whether the guru is living the life that they espouse. "They can't be making everyone slog in the ashram while they sit all day watching television." Watching TV in itself may not be indulgent, says Chaitanya. But, she says that she has seen many gurus who are TV addicts. And never to spirituality channels such as Aastha, but serials. How do the followers react to this? "Some are so blinded by faith that they say even when he is watching TV, he is completely detached'," she laughs.
Not all the gurus are unauthentic. Chaitanya gives the example of Swami Chinmayananda, who used to be a journalist and a non-believer. During an interview, with Swami Shivananda in Rishikesh, he felt those in the city, plagued by material life, could benefit from this philosophy. "He never demanded faith. Instead, he'd tell us to constantly question him."
Today's world, says Chaitanya, doesn't need to look for a guru. Read books, scour the Internet for different philosophies, and finding a philosophy can help connect with the philosopher behind it, she says.
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