Oh Rajiv!

File under: The Siddhi of PR

Today a member of the Guruphiliac Facebook page turned up with this:

It was also reported that an American devotee who had fallen out of the ashram was working in association with Jody Razdik who specializes in guru bashing at a prominent web site. He was being helped by an Indian based in San Diego, who was once very deeply involved inside the Nithyananda organization but had turned malicious.

It's in an article by Rajiv Malhotra, who's been trying to be the pope of American Hinduism for like, forever.

Well, Mr. Malhotra, we'd like to offer a few corrections. While it's true that I know a former member of Nithyananda's inner circle, he was not from San Diego, although he was in California while Nithyananda was in Los Angeles. What is absolutely untrue is any accusation of maliciousness on the part of this former devotee. He never spoke ill of Nithyananda to me, not once. He was, however, acutely disappointed to see his former hero and mentor turn into such a showman. In fact, his refusal to speak any ill about his former master was a considerable display of honor and dignity, considering the circumstances.

Also, just to make it clear, I bash gurus who use they idea they have magic powers to make themselves famous. Nithyananda is a completely clear and pure example of this. It is this fact, and only this fact, that has been the impetus for my writing about him as I have.

Fellatio-On-Video-With-A-Movie-Star Is A Bitch For A Guru.

FIle under: Hands Where They Don't Belong, Satscams and The Siddhi of PR

Oops! Looks like Swami Nithyananda didn't throw enough money at his fellatio-on-video-with-a-movie-star problem:

For a self-styled ‘godman’ who was himself at the centre of a scandal that revolved around video footage of him allegedly disporting sexually with a Tamil actress … the karmic deeds of a past when kundalini forces—and the hormonal urges to which all men are susceptible—played havoc with a spiritual practice aren’t proving so easy to bury.

The brouhaha this time involves Nithy's infiltration and attempt to usurp a vaunted position in a venerable Hindu order. Seems only the truly celibate qualify:

A controversy has erupted over the appointment of Nityananda as the 293rd pontiff of the spiritual order, with heads of other Saivite spiritual orders taking strenuous objection to his appointment, citing the criminal cases still pending against him.

On Thursday, the Madras High Court ordered notice of admission on a writ petition seeking a direction to the State government to declare Nityananda’s appointment as illegal and to prevent him from acting as the guru.

The petition claimed that Nityananda, who had several cases (including case of sexual abuse) pending against him, was “absolutely incompetent” to hold the post that was venerated by Shiva devotees worldwide.

A second, PIL petition has been filed by M Solaikannan, a local politician, claiming that Nityananda had appointed himself the spiritual head after taking the previous (292nd) pontiff into his illegal custody by deploying “henchmen” from Karnataka. The petition sought a direction to the State government to take control of the Madurai Adheenam.

Solaikannan alleged that Nityananda “does not practice celibacy and is not a sanyasi”—in the sense that he had nor relinquished worldly pleasures—and was therefore ineligible to head the spiritual order.

It's nice to see that not everyone in India has been cowed, steamrolled, and/or hoodwinked into believing the Nithyananda sex tape was a special effects job rather than the plain old blow job it clearly depicts the swami receiving.