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Fake Indian gurus prey on the gullible

Nityananda has his own form of branding that makes him stand out in the increasingly cluttered space of instant spirituality.

In a video released last week, Nithyananda - the self-styled, fugitive guru in India accused of crimes including rape - asks people, he calls "rationalised racists", to keep away from Hinduism. "Stop abusing us, stop interfering in our history," he says. He plays the victim, in an attempt to appropriate his own troubles with the law to those of the Hindu "under attack". He uses the word "persecuted" repeatedly in the video.
Soon, he is in his elements, performing sets that have made his videos wildly popular on the internet. He continues to offer insights into the great abstract - "If the heat in the eye can be changed, the heat in the sun can be changed" - before he pauses and asks the trolls and meme-makers to leave and do their job. "I've already given you enough stuff for the next 24 hours. Go," he says, the 'go' delivered with a dismissive flick of the hand.
It's not clear from the two-hour-twenty-seven-minute video if he has an audience or if it comes directly from Kailaasa, the Hindu island republic he and his disciples have reportedly set up on a still-unverified location. Ecuador has stated that it had turned down his request for international personal protection, setting off another round of speculation regarding the location of Kailaasa. Meanwhile, the man - now without a passport - releases videos on life aspects of his nation of "dispossessed Hindus" and details, through a website, the functions of his 'government'.
When the 42-year-old Nithyananda says he is Paramashiva, that the nation of Kailaasa has been in the works since the day he was born, that building an enlightened civilisation has been the purpose of his life, he could strike you as deep, delusional or something else, depending on where you stand on runaway gods who seek refuge in countries run by mortals.
I see him as an interesting act, absurd but not one that's completely beyond reason. His is a composite Indian form of the man engaging the masses, the one who claims to have the answers, as he addresses the many who are seeking them -- he could be guru, neta, salesman, conman. Or all of them.
Nithyananda, born A Rajasekharan, has in his adopted name words that mean 'eternal' and 'joy', both in line with standard guru-naming practices. Take out the spiritual claims and the alleged science he proffers with uncanny seriousness, Nithyananda could just be a man who sees an opportunity where there is one. He has inherited the tropes of garden-variety religious leaders but has his own form of branding that makes him stand out in the increasingly cluttered space of instant spirituality.
But this is not about opportunity and men and women who seize it. This is about faith, the trust of millions and its abuse to further personal gains, the charges of rape, murder and fraud that have dogged priests and spiritual leaders across religions. This is about crime as integral to the workings of influential religious institutions.
A rape case is registered against Nithyananda in the state of Karnataka. In November, Gujarat police arrested two of his disciples on charges of abduction, wrongful confinement and the use of children to collect donations. We've been trying to analyse the spiritual experience, and the men and women who promise it in exchange of absolute subservience, with the help of reason.
Has it worked? It depends on how well you explain the rise of more such cults - most of them with a large number of educated men and women as followers - despite an exhaustive history of crime.
It's no longer about the personal experience customised for willing believers within the confines of a hall. It's about men and women accused of serious crimes finding acceptance, and exercising power, in spaces outside of that hall. It's about massive PR campaigns, celebs and politicians as disciples, violation and subversion of law.
A popular meme on social media compares scam-hit Indian businessmen who fled to other countries, only to get arrested or fight it out in courts to evade arrest, with Nithyananda. The punch-line says, "Legends run away and start their own country."
"No stupid court can prosecute me for revealing the truth," Nithyananda says in an earlier video. The truth here, for those who care, is that he is Paramashiva. It could take a while for the law to catch up. The future of Kailaasa and its leader remain uncertain but Nithyananda will not be the last one to use the ruse of religion to evade justice. He's certainly not going to be the last one to confront the doubters with impunity we interpret, at times wrongly, as eccentric.
When Nithyananda tells his followers who stood by him during his rough years, "No more death for you all," it could be more role-play and standard quirks for a target audience than actual promise of immortality.
That derisive flick of the hand is directed at those among us rationalised racists who need him for the laughs, at least, but are of no relevance to him or the idea of religious cults men like him have built over centuries. The joke could also be on those of us who, after the laughs, are left to wonder how the man, and many before him, got away doing what they did.
- R. Krishnakumar is a senior journalist based in Bengaluru, India