Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth. Those were the golden words of Mahatma Gandhi! TRUTH is what this blog is about... truth about Nithyananda and his cult. Don't fall prey to his charming lies... before you learn more about his real intent from the ex-members of his cult.
SATYAMEVA JAYATE (Let truth alone triumph!)
Breaking News
BREAKING NEWS
Nithyananda rape case trial next date: 6 Sept. 2018
Updates from Courts
UPDATES FROM COURTS
Supreme Court DISMISSED ALL PETITIONS by Nithyananda and his Secretaries to Discharge them without a trial (June 2018)
NITHYANANDA FOUNDATION GUILTY OF FRAUD - US COURT ORDERED RETURN OF DONATIONS 2012
17 Retaliatory/false Complaints filed so far against whistleblower Dharmananda (lenin) by Nithyananda Cult Members!!!!
14 Retaliatory/falseComplaints filed so far against victim Aarthi Rao by Nithyananda & his Cult Members!!!! (All of them after charge sheet against Nithyananda)
3 cases filed in the US against Accused 1 Nithyananda (Mr. Rajasekar), Nithyananda Foundation, Life Bliss Foundation,
4 cases filed in India against Nithyananda Dhyanapeetam for fraud:
Donors of Hyderabad Ashram, Rajapalayam Ashram,Trichy ashram and Seeragapadi Ashram (near Salem) demand that fraudulently obtained donations be returned
NITHYANANDA SLEAZE CD GENUINE : CID & FSL REPORT
Renowned Forensic Expert Padma Bhushan Prof. Dr. P. Chandra Sekharan states "video not morphed"
Summary: A forensic expert Mr. Chandra shekar shares his professionl opinion that the scandal videos are authentic. He was contact by Nithyananda ashram imediately after the scandal requesting him to declare the videos as morphed. Mr. Chandra shekar requested them to bring the original videos along with other sample videos to check for morphing, however they did not contact him again. Another media group contacted him and gave him the videos and samples as requested. Then he was able to verify that the videos were infact authentic and there was no morphing in it.
Regarding Nithyananda's claims that US forensic reports state the video to be morphed, Mr Chandra Shekar states that maybe the video that was sent to the US labs were morphed, but certainly the ones he tested had no morphing in it. Also, responding to Nithyanada's US forensic lab reports (publicized by Nithyananda in a press meet in Chennai) and statements in that report claiming the video was grossly defamatory, Mr. Chandra shekar observed that it is not the forensic experts job to claim the video was defamatory, only a court can do that. The forensic expert should only attest to the authenticity of the video.
Ramanagara: The Criminal Investigation Department on Wednesday filed an additional chargesheet in a local court against self-styled godman Nithyananda in connection with a case involving a youth, a top CID official said.
"We have filed an additional chargesheet against Nithyananda in connection with a case pertaining to his having unnatural sex with a youth", DGP CID Roopak Kumar Dutta said.
Additional chargesheet has also been filed against one Jamuna Rani, a trustee of Nithyananda Dhyanapeetham run by the controversial self-styled godman, he said, adding, the additional chargesheets against the two have been filed under IPC sections including 376 (punishment for rape) and 377 (unnatural offences).
The first chargesheet in this case was filed by the CID last year.
Nithayananda, who has his ashram near Bangalore, was arrested in Himachal Pradesh early in 2010 on criminal charges, including rape after a controversial video purportedly showing him in a compromising position with an actress, was telecast by TV channels. He was later released on bail.
A former devottee now settled in US has lodged a complaint
There is some more bad news for Nithyananda alias A Rajasekhara.
The Karnataka CID on Wednesday filed an additional charge sheet in the Ramanagaram court, claiming that besides several women, Nithyananda forced a man to have sex with him on a number of occasions both at his Bidadi ashram near here as well as in some cities in the US.
Director General, CID, R K Dutta told Deccan Herald that “evidence has emerged that Nithyananda was indulging in unnatural sex.”
The man, whose identity is not being revealed, complained to the State CID some time ago over Skype and his statement was video-recorded after due permission from the court. He is now a resident of Seattle in the US.
This is the first time a male devotee has come forward to lodge a complaint against Nithyananda against whom the first charge sheet was filed by the police after his arrest in Solon, Himachal Pradesh, where he had fled to when a secretly filmed sex video of him was shown by television news channels in Chennai and Bangalore.
In his complaint, the former Nithyananda devotee has given graphic accounts of how his so-called preceptor forced him into “unnatural sex” at least on six occasions at the Bidadi ashram as well as a number of times in Seattle and some other US cities. Police sources said these sexual acts were punishable under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code.
As part of the additional charge sheet, the CID has enclosed the statement of a US-based clinical psychiatrist who has alleged that when Nithyananda was on the run, he had admitted that he has had sex with several women. The psychiatrist was very well known to Nithyananda and had tried to get to the bottom of the controversy created after the sex video went public.
In pursuance of its original case against Nithyananda, the CID has made Jamuna Rani, the wife of his secretary A Sadhananda, alias Aiyya, a co-accused.
The charge against Jamuna Rani is that she wilfully signed on behalf of Nithyananda on the infamous non-disclosure agreement that bound his devotees to silence over the various sexual acts, including tantra sex, he forced them into at his Bidadi ashram.
The CID also notified the court that despite several notices to Nithyananda to appear for medical/physical examination, he did not appear before the police which, according to a source, proved mens rea or “guilty mind”.
Despite several attempts to reach him over the phone, there was no response from Nithyananda’s lawyer C V Nagesh.
In a sudden, yet significant development, Lenin Karuppan, the whistleblower who exposed Bidadi-based Nithyananda in March 2010, surrendered before the state CID’s Crime Branch in Chennai on Wednesday.
Police said that Lenin appeared at the CB-CID headquarters in Guindy and presented himself to the police authorities. He was accompanied by his advocate.
The “whistle-blower” also faces charges of leaking the sleazy video tape featuring Nithyananda and his woman disciple at their ashram in Bidadi near Bangalore.
Ranjitha later denied any such involvement with him and claimed it was a morphed picture to defame her and the “spiritual guru”. The tapes created a sensation when it was shown on a particular Tamil TV news channel in March 2010. Subsequently, the Karnataka CID arrested Nithyananda in Solan, Himachal Pradesh.
Lenin was wanted by the CB-CID in connection with a complaint filed by Nithyananda that he had threatened him and asked for money over the video tapes last year.
Lenin, however, has denied the allegations, claiming that Nithyananda wanted to get even with him by filing “false cases”.
CHENNAI: Lenin Karuppan surrendered before CB-CID sleuths on Wednesday. The CB-CID registered a case against Lenin Karuppan, a former aide of Nithyananda, after Nithya Athmaprabhananda, manager of Nithyananda's ashram, complained that Lenin had demanded crores of rupees to keep the tapes a secret.
Lenin, who was brought before CB-CID officials by his lawyer Sumathi, was taken into custody by deputy superintendent of police Barani Kumar, who is investigating the case, and interrogated. "After conducting a detailed interrogation, if needed, we will arrest Lenin," inspector general of police (CB-CID) Manjunatha said.
Police, however, refused to divulge the information revealed by Lenin during his interrogation. On July13, 2011, Nithya Atmaprabhananda, a devotee of Nithyananda and manager of his ashram, filed a complaint with the Chennai police commissioner against the then Sun Network chief operating officer Hansraj Saxena, his assistant Iyyappan, 'Nakkheeran' Gopal and Kamraj, Lenin Karuppan, his brother Kumar and some others, levelling charges of extortion, criminal intimidation, criminal conspiracy, etc., in connection with the release of the video.
Lenin Karuppan and his brother Kumar filed anticipatory bail petitions that were rejected by the sessions court concerned in Chennai. They moved the Madras high court on September 6, 2011 for anticipatory bail but were again refused bail. Four days later, Hansraj Saxena and Iyyappan were arrested and taken into judicial custody.
It is a sad day for the supporters of truth and dharma as we post this message received yesterday. We are proud of Dharmananda (Lenin) for having the courage to become a whistleblower and stand up to Nithyananda and his cult. But we know that in this struggle for the truth, the divine will always be on the side of dharma and the truth will ultimately prevail, despite the setbacks.
Dear Friends,
Greetings from Dharmananda (alias Lenin Karuppan), the whistle blower who exposed the real face of Nithyananda. Self-‐declared Avatar Nithyananda and his organizations are facing fraud charges in US from a devotee who lost crores of dollars, just like many others. There is information from US that Nithyananda also owns many benami companies there.
To confuse and misdirect the public and judiciary, many false cases are being filed, particularly against me and other important witnesses. In the case filed against me in Tamil Nadu, Nithyananda has successfully blocked my Anticipatory Bail petition. I am ready and willing to cooperate with Tamil Nadu police anytime. I always have respect and gratitude for Tamil Nadu police. They gave me protection when I escaped from Nithyananda and filed an FIR in 2010. Later I had chance to meet some senior people, and I have deep respect for their commitment to duty. In view of this I humbly wish to state that I will give full cooperation for bringing out the truth. I am surrendering to the Tamil Nadu CID today (14/03/2012).
Until now I was silent because I sincerely believed that getting Anticipatory Bail in the false case should not be difficult and my lawyer advised me to be patient. I have no reason to be afraid and I am always ready to cooperate for the sake of truth. I am happy I helped many innocent victims and devotees by exposing Nithyananda’s real face. Many devotees have thanked me personally for saving them. Their gratitude and good will is a great source of strength. And it will help me to fight against corruption and false propaganda. I am not afraid to stand for truth even though I am paying a heavy price for it. I will continue to fight against Nithyananda’s fraud!
I am willing to be in custody because I know that Truth will definitely win and my sacrifice will help many more in future! I profusely thank the media, which helped me by publishing true information, and the public for their support.
Today is a day that fills me with great pain, as well as the joy of freedom. Today is the day I was liberated from the mental shackles of Nithyananda’s cult, while he stood exposed as the avatar of moral corruption!
I was one of the thousands of devotees who had dedicated my life to Nithyananda’s mission. But I was not just a devotee on the fringe, attending a few free events or programs. I was an organizer and coordinator for many years, working closely with Nithyananda and his ashram, receiving awards and accolades for my service to his mission.
I was a hard core “Nithyananda missionary”. I call myself that because I worked with a missionary zeal for several years to convince every tom, dick and harry that he must meet Nithyananda at least once in his lifetime, assuring them their life will change dramatically.
And I did it because I believed with every cell of my body that Nithyananda was the greatest enlightened master to be alive, that Nithyananda was on a noble mission to enlighten the world. I believed that Gandhiji, my guru before Nithyananda, was a merely great human being who lived an exemplary life of truth and courage. But Nithyananda was no mere mortal, that he was God incarnate, and worthy of every bit of regard, respect and trust that every one of us devotees placed on him.
But 2 years ago, on this day I was stunned to see that he was just another ordinary man! And what was even more disgusting was events that followed - Nithyananda disappearing for almost a month, making self-contradictory statements from a hideout (about his experiments in bed, about his parivaraja of 9 years, etc), admitting to few devotees about his actions and denying it publicly, so many standard tactics while in custody (including the chest pain on his way to police station), a sex contract (never heard of any great master creating such a contract!!!!!!) and many more!
Suddenly all the lies were unfolding, and all the inconsistencies I had been made to ignore seemed to complete the jigsaw puzzle called Nithyananda! I could hardly deny the truth that was staring in my face… that Nithyananda fell short of even an ordinary human being.
I would have had much more respect for him, even as just an ordinary human being, if he had displayed the most basic decency to admit to his human folly and apologize to his millions of followers worldwide for misleading them into believing him to be something else!
Nithyananda is no comparison to an exemplary man like Gandhi, where is the question of him being an enlightened master like Ramakrishna or even a God incarnate like Rama or Krishna! I was most disturbed by my realization that Nithyananda is the most untrustworthy man and that I wasted several years of my life in his service.
I have heard many use the words ‘crook’, ‘conman’, ‘fraud’, etc to refer to him, and it is hard to deny them. I have heard his followers vehemently argue about his teachings being great, about their personal spiritual experiences being inexplicable. There are many great teachings in great books and scriptures, and many great teachers who have come and gone. And there are many who claim to have great ‘spiritual experiences’ on LSD or marijuana!
I say to his followers - call a spade a spade. Claim he is a great teacher, maybe even an extraordinary teacher who presents the works of many others in his own style as simple ideas. Nobody will expect him to be the most virtuous, truthful, honest, dharmic person on earth. But don’t call him divine and an incarnation when his life is not an open book, when he leads a secret double life, when he cannot even be truthful in public about himself, and worst of all, when critics are attacked viciously with hate and vengeance while claiming to be a spiritual and compassionate master!!
The usual escapism that it is not Nithyananda who attacks the critics, its only his followers doing it is the most ridiculous statement to save a spiritual leader! Even the CEO of a company is held responsible for the actions/mistakes of his employees, then how much more responsibility lies on the shoulders of one who claims to be an enlightened spiritual leader, or an avatara purusha?!
The vengeance of his followers can only be a sad reflection of his own state! If this is the effect he has on his followers, then he is definitely not a spiritual leader, but has every indication of a cult leader!
Everything that has happened over the last 2 years has made me realize that I was an unfortunate victim of deceit and manipulation by a very clever and convincing cult leader.
My mind had been imprisoned in Nithyanada’s glorified and illusory world of lies, deception and make believe. And the unfortunate reality is - I see the same sad programmed/brainwashed beliefs and talks by those devotees who still vehemently argue for him!
If you are still believing Nithyananda to be a truly spiritual person, an enlightened master or an incarnation, please wake up from the mental slavery of this cult. Don’t waste your life, or it may be to late when you wake up to the truth!
I am ever grateful to the divine mother parashakti, for liberating me from the maya of Nithyananda, and saving thousands, if not millions through dharma. My mental shackles have been destroyed and I am free from the most dangerous kind of prison - a prison without walls!!
It took A Rajasekharan, alias Paramahamsa Nithyananda, the man masquerading as a spiritual leader and healer of mental and physical afflictions, nearly two weeks to come out and claim that he was in a ‘trance’ when he was filmed having sex with a Tamil actress. Obviously, Nithyananda, who claims to have experienced ‘truth’ and ‘enlightenment’, is not anywhere near speaking the truth.
The ‘paramahamsa’ does not even have the courage to own up to the fact that he gave in to a moment of human weakness (it is another matter that it was not simply a momentary lapse of ascetic strength; that was his wont and the sine qua non of his so-called spiritual movement). How do we describe such a man? A fraud? A confidence trickster? A villainous manipulator? A sociopath on the loose?
The common dictionary definition of trance is “a half-conscious state, seemingly between sleeping and waking, in which ability to function voluntarily may be suspended”. If Nithyananda is trying to tell the world at large, and especially his disciples, that he was in fact violated by Ranjitha, the Tamil actress he is shown to have sex with, he is lying. For, nobody who has seen the video clips would be fooled about his claim. It is pretty much obvious that Nithyananda was not in a state of trance, or as he put it, ‘in deep samadhi’. He was, to use his own cultic language, in a state of extreme ecstatic bliss.
What Nithyananda has attempted to do through his statements aired via his own website or a couple of television news channels is to sway the flagging support among his youthful followers. The efforts to clear himself by replying to inspired questions put by a researcher of little academic recognition, the use of spurious cultic language (‘deep silent meditation’) and other forms of half-baked comments exposed an essentially flawed and devious mind incapable of taking on the truth. But these, according to sociological studies of the 1950s, also indicated that as a cult leader Nithyananda tried to change his devotees’ and television viewers’ belief systems via ‘sensory overload’ and subverting their ability to reason.
Even if it is assumed that some of the studies used over-generalised stereotypes of deception on the part of cult leaders, there is no denying the fact that Nithyananda is now employing a stratagem to trick people into believing that he committed no wrong. He has persuasion techniques, but part-admitting to have been ‘served’ by Ranjitha and lying on his state of consciousness will not go a long way to establish his credibility among the people at large. In many ways, Nithyananda has been found out. The videos ensured that first and then his statements left no doubt in the minds of the people that the man they watched on the television screen was an inveterate liar.
Credibility
Duping people by half-baked tantric concepts like being in a state of trance will only alienate his cultic order from those who are more rational in judging and concluding the moral worth of a man who claims to be, and is projected by some of his associates, as an ‘enlightened Master’.
Nithyananda was mistaken to be a charismatic leader by members of his cult. A deviant and perverse impersonation of malignity, Nithyananda tried to use the sublime ideals of Hinduism and Brahminism to achieve a rather base objective — wealth accumulation the easy way.
There is a large and established body of scholarly literature, far more credible and grounded in rationality than the mish-mash of Brahmanical and occult practices that Nithyananda bandied about through his teachings and sermons, but which are, to say the least, a perverse attack on the ideals of Brahmanism, Sanatana Dharma and Vedanta philosophy. He tried to hijack all of these in one go without even adequately comprehending them in their fullest depth. He tried to sell them expensive, the cost of which he is now paying by way of social revile.
It is best left to scholars of theology, religion and cults to ascertain what Nithyananda’s organisation, which sociologists would agree was formed to satisfy the personal interests of its leader and a few others, attempted to propagate was impairing and destructive. Nithyananda is no Moses trying to deliver his fringe flock to freedom. His seven-year movement, if it can be described as one at all, is an experiment with a self-deceiving, illusory conception of an alternative way of life that was not altruistic in the sense that it was not directed at ameliorating the lot of the poor, the marginalised, the disempowered and the wretched of society.
Nithyananda tried to engineer the beliefs of many young people that the freedom to lead wholly self-indulgent lives could provide them with the sense of purpose and direction in life they so ardently sought. Having taken the pendulum of freedom to its outermost limits, after throwing hundreds of young minds back into a regressive mode by inculcating in them the idea that he was their Master, the arbiter of their souls, and by telling them that their salvation lay at his ‘lotus feet’, Nithyananda has now found a barren vista.
There is now emerging evidence suggesting that self-styled godman Nithyananda may have forged his birth documents. He has certainly misrepresented his date of birth.
Documents available with Deccan Herald show that in at least two official documents Nithyananda provided different dates of birth, bringing into question not only his age.
There are already question marks over the mechanical engineering diploma that he had supposedly earned from a Vellore polytechnic college.
A copy of the US visa issued to him from the US Consulate in Chennai in 2003 shows his date of birth to be March 13, 1977. This means that at the time of applying for the US visa, he had provided the Consulate authorities with document(s) that showed his date of birth as reflected in the travel paper stamped on his passport (No E xxxxx).
But in two other documents –– petitions filed along with sworn affidavits –– in the Karnataka High Court last week he has stated that his date of birth is January 1, 1978. In the petitions, praying for “quashing the entire proceedings including the investigation” pending against him at Bidadi police station near here, Nithyananda’s lawyer claims: “The petitioner was born on January 1, 1978, in Tiruvannamalai in Tamil Nadu.”
There is more about his age in a Nithyananda biography, relevant sections of which are available with Deccan Herald. The author writes: “Nithyananda was born on January 1, 1978, at 32 minutes past midnight in the holy town of Tiruvannamalai in South India.” The same author writes that Nithyananda was born in the Tamil month of “Margazhi” (December-January) and likens his birth to that of Krishna.
A city-based advocate Siji Malayil said furnishing two different dates of birth for official purposes could invite criminal action for cheating and forgery. Malayil added that in the case of Nithyananda, the Indian Penal Code’s Section 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery for purposes of cheating) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document) could be evoked.
In view of suspected forgery of birth documents and misrepresentation of his date of birth, the American authorities are believed to have begun to look into the manner in which Nithyananda obtained US visa. This enquiry could form the basis of a wider probe into the activities of his cult organisations that operate out of several American cities.
Incidentally, the US visa (B1/B2 type) Nithyananda obtained in 2003 was “cancelled pursuant to with prejudice” by American border officials on February 4, 2007, while he was trying to cross over from Canada to the US.
HC petition
The brief introduction of the petitioner becomes relevant and necessary herein, as follows: The petitioner was born on 1st January 1978 in Tiruvannamalai in Tamil Nadu, India and named A Rajasekaran. He is the second son of his parents (late) Sri Arunachalam and Smt Lokanayaki.
The man who passed himself off as Paramahamsa Nithyananda for seven years, promised instant spirituality to hundreds, perhaps even thousands, across India and abroad.
It might be too early to brand Nithyananda as a conman, but what is emerging is that he is a psychopath who exploited people’s credulity and played on the minds of youthful devotees who, before joining his cultic order, might have demonstrated symptoms of psychic distress, anxiety, depression, apathy, disinterest, meaninglessness, isolation, social alienation and confusion. As a normative social system, Nithyananda’s cultic order is an alternative healing mechanism for the existential crises of contemporary youth.
Nithyananda, of course, is no paramahamsa. He is an ordinary man who was intelligent enough to capitalise on his youthful disciples’ loss of faith in the “rationalistic western cosmology and loss of the extended family system,” as sociologist Mansell Pattison has pointed out. But Nithyananda also tapped into the dissatisfaction caused by the impact of the prevailing economic paradigm which has created stress and anxiety, especially among those in the 30-40 age group whose members may have deliberately turned away from traditional psychotherapies toward his religious cult as the ultimate remedy for their anxieties.
These young men and women found in him and his cult — which is a strange and often frightening mix of the Vedic and tantric with an attractive and appealing focus on phallus worship — the path to physical and spiritual healing. What might also have appealed to the devotees was the stress on mental seduction and enslavement or mind control, so much so that they were prepared to abandon family, loved ones and well-wishers.
Some psychologists and sociologists agree that intensive conditioning (or brainwashing) is designed to compromise the devotees’ psychological integrity and indoctrinate them in a world view in which the ends (salvation, bliss and even personal health and wealth) justify the means (deceptive recruitment, fraudulent fund-raising and psycho-sexual practices).
The rest of Nithyananda’s so-called spiritual and healing prowess was built by aggressive and purposeful public relations directed not at the poor from our urban ghettos or despoiled rural backwaters. Rather, these are middle class, affluent, educated, and sophisticated youth. A network of branch heads in some southern Indian cities and those in the United States, mostly non-resident Indians with deep pockets helped Nithyananda catapult to spiritual stardom. It would not be out of place to point out here that the website of one of Nithyananda’s subsidiary organisations in US suggests that more than a spiritual enterprise the Nithyananda mission is commercial enterprise.
Brief interviews with some of Nithyananda’s disciples at his ashram near Bangalore and over telephone, with the primary question “what drew you to his order?,” elicited confused response. Emails from followers in support of Nithyananda were also important sources to understand what attracted the youth to his alternative spiritual system that offered a radical world view in distinction from the common culture, with explicit sanctions in regard to one’s behaviour, with a strong emphasis on separatism from the ‘world at large’ that is reflected in some degree of small group communality ranging from total communal living to frequent communal gatherings.
Beliefs
The standard replies typically comprised two strains of belief: a) he helped heal their physical ailments and psychological distress and b) we experienced truth and enlightenment, two very abstract concepts that souls far greater and intellectual than ‘Nithyananda, our Master’ have not been able to fathom within the context of Indian philosophy.
The likes of sundry other self-proclaimed television-propelled godmen have, in their own distinctive styles, tried to peddle Indian spirituality, with their base and esoteric twists, to a gullible audience within India and abroad.
They have met with varied levels of successes and then faded away as the spiritual ferment, shaped in large part by globalisation and television, spawned other unconventional, secretive and deviant cult movements. They were sought to be given legitimacy and acceptability within society by obtaining the crucial backing of political parties and enlisting the support of the rich and the powerful, an approach that has almost always benefited the organisations in more ways than one.
But such groups have often elicited extreme hostility and distrust and have, moreover, been perceived as fundamentally subversive of civil order and the ideals of Hinduism. To some extent, part of the popular uproar about cult groups such as Nithyananda’s comes from bewildered, frightened and angry parents and other elders who cannot comprehend why the youth, otherwise socialised into the mainstream of society with many seeming advantages, should abandon their cultural and religious heritage to enter such ‘separate reality.’
The Nithyananda cult operated as a surrogate extended family and provided novel, if questionable, therapeutic and spiritual alternatives that confer meaning on individual lives and experiences, even if the devotees were deluded into believing so because of their existential vacuum. In doing so, he and some of his close confidantes exploited the weaknesses of existing institutions like Hinduism, family and modern psychiatry.
This is not to say that cults necessarily threaten the social order. After all, people are at liberty to exercise their preference for one religious movement for another. But what may endanger society is the return to obscurantism, superstition and blind faith that once constituted the bane of India.
A study of Nithyananda’s cultic order — the reference to an ‘energised banyan tree’ and ‘energised puja items,’ besides a host of weird teaching practices that go toward deification of the occult — indicates that its devotees, drunk on their ‘sadguru,’ their ‘Enlightened Master’ of merely seven years’ experience, should exercise some caution in distinguishing between the truly pious and the charlatan.
Coercive persuasion is secular conduct. Insofar as it is recognized as coercion and "undue influence," it is illegal conduct. Prohibition of this specific conduct will protect the State itself and the free exercise rights of all citizens without infringing on the free exercise rights of religious organizations.
Coercive persuasion is antithetical to the First Amendment. It achieves much of the harmful result of fraud, false imprisonment, coercion, undue influence, involuntary, servitude, intentional infliction of emotional distress, outrageous conduct, and other tortuous acts.
Coercive persuasion is unfair manipulation of the biological and psychological weaknesses and susceptibilities of one's fellow men. It is an opposite to charity and kindness. It is a psychological modus operandi of a criminal or totalitarian society.
Coercive persuasion is not a religious practice. It is a covert control technology. It is not a belief or an ideology. It is a technological process that impairs rationality.
As a process it can be examined separately from any message content that may be associated with its practitioners. This is like examining the technical processes used in hypnotic induction separately from examining the meaning or value of any hypnotic suggestion given during hypnosis. Examining processes, never beliefs, will not violate anyone's First Amendment religious protections.
John Dewey believed that, "the human power to respond to reason and truth protects democracy." Any organization using coercive persuasion on its members that also claims to be a religion is turning the sacred trust and privileges of our democratic First Amendment sanctuary into a fortress for psychological assault. It is covertly twisting "religious freedom" to deny our more basic constitutional right to unfettered rationality in our freedom of thought and free will.
Freedom of religion cannot exist without first having an absolutely protected freedom of thought. Freedom of religion without freedom of thought is an absurdity.
"... [a] church cannot seek the protection of one constitutional amendment while it allegedly deprives citizens of the protection of other constitutional guarantees." --Robin George v. International Society of Krishna Consciousness 473 F, Supp. at 312, U.S. 89-1399.
Chandan Nandy, Bangalore, March 8, DH News Service:
Supposed alma mater may probe under-age factor in admission
Authorities at the supposed alma mater of self-styled godman Paramahamsa Nithyananda, in the midst of a murky sex scandal involving a Tamil actress and other female disciples, on Monday said the institution's management will likely to inquire into the circumstances under which an under-age boy was given admission.
Nithyananda's educational attainment has come under a cloud after it was found that he was given admission to a three-year mechanical engineering diploma course at Rajagopal Polytechnic College in Gudiyattam in Tamil Nadu's Vellore district when he was 12 years old.
According to the college website, Nithyananda received his diploma in 1993 when he would have been only 15 years old. This is evident from the college website on which he has been eulogised as: "An alumni, Swamiji Nithyananda has donated magnanimously Rs 200,000 (Rs two lakh) for Noon Meal Scheme. Each year he used to donate huge sum whole-heartedly. We proudly register here that he is our old student, did his Mechanical Engineering (1990-1993)."
When contacted, college principal R J Kumar told Deccan Herald over phone that he was admitted to the mechanical engineering course in 1992 and studied in the institution till 1995 when he earned his diploma in "first class with distinction.”
Discrepancy
Kumar's version is also full of discrepancy since Nithyananda, who claims to have been born in 1978, would have been only 14 years old at that time. According to rules in vogue in Tamil Nadu a diploma course could be pursued if the candidate seeking admission to any specific programme has passed Class X at age of 16. At that time, Nithyananda was known by the name A Rajasekaran.
Kumar, who said he had checked the records, said he would request the college management to undertake an inquiry into the matter.
He also said he would instruct the college technical staff to "correct" the entry from the website.
The questionable part of Nithyananda's supposed education at Rajagopal Polytechnic was the age factor. He claims in his autobiography that he was born in 1978. That makes him 12 years of age in 1990, the year he supposedly was enrolled in the college. On the other hand, if Kumar's claim that Rajasekaran was enrolled in 1992 is correct, then the boy was only 14 years at that time.
Inquiry to be ordered When contacted, mechanical engineering head of the department P Pannerselvam said he would order an inquiry into the circumstances under which an under-age boy was admitted to the diploma course.
"I am on medical leave, but once I rejoin work I will ask the college authorities to go into the matter. After all, the reputation of the college is at stake," Pannerselvam told Deccan Herald over phone.
Clearly concerned over the prima facie bending of rules to award a diploma to an under-age boy, Pannerselvam said, "it might be that he got admission under the management quota," adding: "He might have produced false certificates."
While a thorough check will shed light on Nithyananda's educational qualifications and whether he had earned the diploma fairly, there are some college staff, including civil engineering department head R Amutha, who claimed she taught her subject to Nithyananda "in 1992-93."
When contacted, Amutha, who claims to have a 31-year teaching career, did not dispute the fact that she is a devotee of Nithyananda whom she met in 2001 “when he lived in Erode.”
Amutha, who admitted to paying money to have Nithyananda's darshan and partake of his teachings, claimed that “most of the staff in the college are his devotees.”
Despite the human and societal damage caused by cults, few organizations exist to help prevent or lessen the damage. Until very recently, governments worldwide have not created systematic programs to respond to the problem. The work has been done by non-profit organizations and by people working on individual bases, studying the cult phenomenon, counseling cult members and ex-members, prosecuting those guilty of cult-related crimes and abuses, and educating others on the dangers of cults. The cult problem is growing quickly and is expected to accelerate as the millennium approaches.
Fortunately, for all its destructiveness, mind control can be diffused rather easily. Education is vital in helping cult members leave the destructive organizations they feel tied to. According to Dr. Singer, 90% of cult members, given the opportunity to take a few days away from the group to be given full information, consequently leave the destructive organization.
In recent months, other government organizations have also begun plans to address the cult problem. The European Parliament recently proposed solutions to the cult problem which focus on education and prevention. The United Nations Commission on Human Rights brought a Special Rapporteur to the United States in January to discuss dangers posed by cults. In April, the Belgian Parliament approved the establishment of a public Information and Advice Center on Harmful Cults. The center's purpose is to study cults, provide information and advice to the public, and set up a study center accessible by the general population.
FACTNet, as a nonprofit provider of solutions to cult and mind control problems, is extremely pleased that governments are taking initiative to actively address the cult problem, but is concerned that many people are still uninformed about the harms cults are capable are doing to their families and our societies. Please forward this notice to anyone you think might benefit from the information.
For information on mind control and cults, see www.factnet.org
This editorial opinion provided by FACTNet, Inc. FACTNet is a nonprofit Internet library dedicated to protecting freedom of mind by reducing harms caused by destructive cults and mind control. FACTNet's web page, which is located at www.factnet.org and has received over 2,000,000 hits since January 1997, is now equipped with a unique web crawler-based search engine capable of simultaneously searching every word on most Internet sites on cults and mind control with the click of the search button. For information on cult-related issues, it is no longer necessary to waste time tediously visiting hundreds of individual web sites. If you would like to subscribe to our free letters/FACTNews newsletter please go to http://lists.factnet.org/mailman/listinfo/factnet-news ~ Appropriate re-distribution and re-posting of this document is appreciated.
While recent cult tragedies have received a great deal of media coverage, many facts regarding cults are rarely divulged to the general public.
Of the 912 People's Temple members who died in Jonestown, Guyana in 1978, 276 were children, and of more than 80 who died at Waco, Texas in 1993, 25 were children.
An estimated 5,000 economic, political, and religious groups operate in the United States alone at any given time, with 2.5 million members. Over the last ten years, cults have used tactics of coercive mind control to negatively impact an estimated 20 million victims in the last ten years. Worldwide figures are even greater. [Cult expert Dr. Margaret Singer , Cults in Our Midst].
The cult problem is so prevalent, the chances of a family member joining a cult are greater than a family member catching chicken pox, four times greater than contracting AIDS, 90 times greater than contracting measles, and 45,000 times greater than contracting polio. [Dr. Paul Martin, cult expert and director of Wellspring Retreat & Resource Center, Ohio, USA].
25% of the millions of cult members worldwide "will suffer enduring, irreversible harm that will affect their ability to function adequately in emotional, social, family, and occupational domains," according to Dr. Martin. For every person who becomes a cult member, many more are impacted; parents, children, other family, and friends suffer personal and often economic loss.
Entire societies, numbed by coercive psychological influence, are more likely to allow large-scale tragedies. Perhaps the most devastating example is the Holocaust. Cult mind control is totalitarian, and as such is anathema to democracy. Democracy is founded on the principle that humanity is rational; for democracy to work, people must be capable of using their critical faculties. Mind control works by bypassing rationality and eliminating free will. Without free will, all other basic human freedoms, such as freedom of expression, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, become utterly meaningless. Eventually if left unchecked, mind control would destroy all basic human freedoms and ruin democracy.
According to Dr. Martin, "Compared to other social or medical problems, the havoc created by destructive cultism is the most understudied, neglected, and ignored mental health and social problem in the world... If the symptoms exhibited in former cult members were attributed to a virus, it would be considered a worldwide epidemic."
Documents available with Deccan Herald show that in at least two official documents Nithyananda provided different dates of birth, bringing into question not only his age. 