By Soumya Kundra:
India – a land of multi religions & cultures and a land of belief & spirituality. This is the very combination which sets India apart and makes it popular all over the world . But the question arises- Has this land of spirituality and religion turned into a land of utter foolishness and superstitions? Have people lost their intellect to be seeking refuge in every self proclaimed baba and mata? Now killing the suspense- I am here reffering to the new rising stars of today – Nirmal baba and Radhey maa . The past three months have shown a stratospheric rise in the interest shown by people in Nirmal baba and the latest one to join the league is Radhey maa – who is a self proclaimed avtar of Maa Durga . Today , they are the people under spotlight and yes, they are the ones making news . They have given our bollywood actors a run for their money. Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone have lost “most googled title” to our very own Nirmal baba and Radhey maa.
I would like to present you with an example to provide you with a clear picture. A young boy in this early twenties spent Rs. 2000 to attend baba’s session thinking that baba might have a one stop solution to all his miseries. The guy was worried about being unemployed and his poor financial condition had left him sleepless. Baba in his peculiar style asked the guy if he had “gol gappe” in the last month? The submissive guy replied with folded hands that he was so engrossed dealing with his life’s miseries and complications that he didnt have “gol gappe” or any form of “chaat ” during the month. Baba disappointed with the guy’s reply, blamed this as the reason of the blocked furtherance and progress in that guy’s life and asked him to have gol gappe as soon as possible and also distribute it to the poor. This guy is not the only devotee who gave away his last penny to Baba to get a solution. Thousands of people everyday are spending their hard earned money to seek Baba’s lame solutions to their grievous problems.
But lately godman Nirmal baba’s assets have come under the scanner. Nirmal Baba charges Rs. 2,000 from every participant who wishes to be a part of his commune- ‘samagam’. This amount is trasferred directly into the three bank accounts of Nirmal baba – one each in Punjab National Bank, ICICI Bank and Yes Bank. As per estimates, Nirmal Darbar has an annual turnover of approximately 84 crore rupees.
A Hindi daily, Prabhat Khabar, claims to have details of two of these accounts and it says that roughly everyday Rs. 1.11 crores are deposited into these accounts.
Radhey maa on the other hand is giving baba a tough competition in terms of bank balance. Gold and Diamond studded Maa doesn’t utter a word but her bhakts are enchanted by her aura and are ready to shower all that they have just to have her one glance and see her smile and dance and one important thing- Radhey maa once spoke which became the breaking news of many news channels, she said in her peculiar punjabi accent – “I love you all from the bottom of my heart” which left her devotees drooling.
My intention here is not to objectify all the gurus and mahatmas as thugs but I guess i’ts high time that people learn to differentiate between a guru – who really and earnestly believes in providing his bhakt a path to solace and a thug – who gives some random, strange suggestion to his devotees to increase his/her own bank balance at the cost of the faith and hard earned money of his follower.