Lately, I am noticing a new trend in the TV news channels. For a fact, I know they are the low level parasites feeding on society just to make money and have destroyed the total essence of journalism. Anyways, speaking about the trend, I see that they are constantly hitting on Swamijis. Notable among them are Sundara Chaitanyananda, Ganapathi Sachchidananda etc etc etc…. so far, Jeeyar Swamy is not touched but the other two have been touched constantly.
They keep rubbing constantly that the Swamis are taking 5k for Pada Puja, 25k for home visit, 1 lakh for performing Yagam at home. And somehow, they want to portray that the swamis are making lakhs of rupees by selling books and have amassed properties in thousands of crores. My question is- What is wrong with that?.
In my view, it is thousand times better than setting up wine shops, coffee shops, Hukkah centres, bars, clubs. These things are playing with health and lives of people. Instead of that, the Swamis are having their establishments which are giving peace and spiritual guidance to people, is it wrong. In this materialistic world where loneliness is increasing, what is the harm in spending some money and attain some mental and spiritual peace?
The devotees are not escaping or getting away, they are finding solace and knowledge. Even today, Nityananda bhaktas still say whatever he said we have kept it in our brain and are following it. He has given us wonderful wisdom, his controversy about Ranjitha is his personal thing, we are not bothered. The point here is, what he is offering us in terms of attaining inner calmness so we don’t have any reason to get nosy about his other activities.
I strongly believe that many don’t have outlook on spirituality and karma. Anyone who connects with it practically, they are getting the right benefit out of it. Folks like Balasai and Nityananda are not geniuses but they have drive towards spirituality. What matters is the value they are adding to the society and there is nothing heinous in earning money. They are doing spiritual business, what is wrong in that? They are doing their bit for dharma and guidance for confused souls.
Truth is, they are thousand times better than these TV news channels. Atleast, they are not damaging the society and making a sensation out of everything purely for their existence. Thanks to the stress being caused by the electronic media, more and more people are going to these Swamis for getting some peace of mind. I firmly believe in ‘Aham Brahmam’ philosophy so I think it is about time the news chaps keep their gobs shut and let the Swamis do their business.
- Lakshmi Kumari, Bangalore
