20 Controversial Babas in India who fooled Indian Public
India is a land obsessed with spiritual leaders. The public does not care if they really have superpowers, which they claim or are they really an incarnation of Gods. A good marketing scheme can even make you a so called Baba and you can earn millions, and even billions if you are good at being an imposter! It does not imply that all the spiritual leaders are fake, but it raises serious questions about the validity of the powers that most of these self proclaimed godmen claim to be.
This is a list of 20 such famous scandals which involved these so called Babas and made a fool out of Indian Public.
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Baba Ramdev
Baba Ramdev always makes headlines with his controversial remarks. Though he is a Yoga guru, but he has been involved in many activities that are not in his domain. His involvement in the Jan Lokpal Bill was controversial and his escape from a tent being dressed as a woman was also well highlighted by the media. Now, his trust is a major FMCG firm known by the name Pitanjali. Ramdev Baba has been accused for numerous financial irregularities and Tax Evasion. In 2005, Brinda Karat accused Ramdev Baba of using animal products in his medicines and he was recently in the news as his noodels were not approved by the FSSAI.
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Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
The Beatles are one of the most influential rock bands in the history. The Beatles came to India back in 1968 for spiritual awakening in the ashram of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. John Lennon of The Beatles had, during his visit to India written a song ‘Sexy Sadie’ which he had wanted to actually name ‘Maharishi’ as it was based on the swami himself. It was said that Maharishi had made sexual advances towards Mia Farrow but Beatles members denied and said the story is fabricated. But the twist in the story was that soon all the members packed their bags and relieved the Maharishi of his duty to be their spiritual guru! Later, John Lennon said ” There is no guru. You have to believe in yourself. You’ve got to get down to your own God in your own temple. It’s all down to you, mate.”
We totally agree to that mate! We’ll just listen to can’t buy me love!
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Kripalu Maharaj
Kriplau Maaharaj was a Hindu spiritual leader, poet and was given the title of Jagadguru was from Allahabad. He had four ashrams in India and one in the USA. After his death in 2013, one of his disciples, an American follower Karen Johnson in her book “Sex, Lies, and Two Hindu Gurus: How I Was Conned by a Dangerous Cult” And Why I Will Not Keep Their Secrets.” exposed some shocking facts about him. In the book, she claimed that he invited women to give him ‘charan seva’, a kind of massaging ritual which usually incorporates sexual touching.” And to add more to it, in 2002, Kripalu was alleged to have raped and molested a 22-year-old Guyanese woman in a prayer-room.
If the allegations are true, Maharaj will be getting punished because now Baba is with God!
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Priest Devanathan
In 2009, a sex scandal involving a temple priest in the famed pilgrim town of Kancheepuram shocked devotees. The priest had videos with some of the female devotees in objectionable poses. The shocking thing was that the 36-year-old priest, Devanathan, used to engage in sexual acts even as unsuspecting devotees waited outside to perform Puja! He was caught as he has given his phone for repair and the technician made the videos public after realizing the heinous crime made by the Priest!
Technician-1, Priest-0!
Click next to see the Baba who tricked a British Woman to marry him!
Swami Gnyanachaitanya
PM Sudhakaran, well known as Gnyanachaitanya was a former army man who spent 14 years in jail for committing three heinous crimes. He later became a Godman and got hold of a British family who were the devotees of Lord Shiva and claimed that Amanda, the daughter of that family was his wife in a previous birth and warned them that if she did not marry him immediately then the family would face the wrath of Lord Shiva. After marriage, the woman was abused physically and sexually and was not allowed to contact her family. It was all revealed when she finally managed to escape and told this to police.
Verdict: Baba goes to Jail!
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Swami Amrita Chaitanya
Swami Amrita Chaitanya was a Godman of Kerala. He was arrested in 2008 on charges of raping three minor girls and a 22-year-old woman, making pornographic videos, financial fraud and possession of narcotics. He was also arrested by Interpol in 2008 on conning an NRI woman and making 45 Lakh! The Indian Courts did justice and gave Baba 16 years of rigorous prison imprisonment.
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Sri Jayendra Saraswathi Swamigal
Sri Jayendra Saraswathi Swamigal is the 69th Shankaracharya of the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham and the head of the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham. Shankaracharya is considered one of the major religious gurus in Hinduism. The controversy arose when he was the prime accused in the murder of Sankararaman, a temple manager and a former devotee. He was also linked with the murder of auditor Radhakrishnan, who questioned the missing gold of 83 Kg that was meant for Kamakshi temple.
He was acquitted by the Supreme Court in 2013 because none of the witnesses identified any accused in the court. That raises an eyebrow!
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Swami Premananda
Swami Premananda was a refugee from Sri Lanka who escaped the civil war. He established his ashram in Tiruchirappalli for women and orphans. He said that he had the powers to treat mentally ill patients. In 1994, Arul Jyothi, a young girl who escaped from the ashram, reported that she was pregnant after being raped repeatedly by the Godman. Later Swamiji was also accused of murders! In August 1997, Premananda, along with six accomplices, was convicted of raping 13 minor girls and a devotee who attempted to expose him.
The interesting thing is that Baba died in Jail but till his last breath he said that he was innocent! The final verdict is now in the hands of the ‘Upparwala’!
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Swami Sadachari
Swami Sadachari was once the religious guru of Prime Minsiter Indra Gandhi! Yes, he was that influential! Swamiji claimed that he had the powers to light branches with simply the energy of his eyes! However, this was debunked by famous rationalist Sanal Edamaruku in 1985, when Sanal demonstrated the same trick by using chemicals discretely placed under branches. He was booked by the Indian Police of running a brothel and he was sentenced then.
Indra Gandhi must have regretted it if she was alive.
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Sant Rampal
Sant Rampal is the founder of a Satlok Ashram, a socio-spiritual movement popular in Haryana state. He has named himself as an incarnation of Kabir and says that Kabir is the supreme god and everyone should worship him. His critical comments on the Arya Samaj in 2006 made the two sects clash and after the death of one man, he was accused of provoking violence. However, police had to bring 20,000 security guards to arrest him because of resistance of his supporters!
20,000 is a huge number and the Sant’s impact can be known by it!
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Gurmeet Ram Rahim
Gurmeet Ram Rahim is known more for his criminal and weirdactivities rather than religious activities. He has many songs to his credit and even made a movie playing the lead role! The shocking thing is that he was charged in a rape case by the CBI and is accused of sexually assaulting women followers of the Dera at the sect’s Sirsa-based headquarters. He is also accused of murdering journalists and managers of temples. The most damaging allegation on Baba Ram Rahim is of an anonymous female follower’s letter sent to Prime Minister, President which claimed that Baba Ram Rahim had allegedly raped her and at least 50 more female followers in the Dera Sacha Sauda premises.
The ‘Rockstar’ Baba needs a PR manager, not a production house!
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Ichchadhari Sant
Ichchadhari Sant, a self proclaimed spiritual guru named himself Swami Bhimanand Ji Maharaj Chitrakoot and he claims to be a follower of Sai Baba. The amazing thing is that he started his career as a security guard in 1988 in Delhi and fooled the public and became a Baba! In 1997, he was first arrested in Lajpat Nagar for running a prostitution racket with a massage parlour as a fascia which involved former air hostesses and students. After his release, he has now started building hospitals and temples, but his worth is said to be in crores!
He is called Ichchadhari because he claims that he can turn into a serpent just like in the serial Naagin!
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Chandraswami
Nemi Chand Jain, alias Chandraswami, who claimed to be a psychic, an astrologer and a faith healer, is a firm believer of goddess Maa Kali. Since his childhood, he had been interested in the study of Tantra. He was said to be the spiritual leader of Indina PM Narsimha Rao for 25 years. He is alleged to have been involved in the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. An undisclosed payment of $11 million was found in his ashram which was payed to an arms dealer. In June 2011, the Supreme Court fined him Rs 9 crore for violating the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act.
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Radhe Maa
Radhe Maa scandal is recent even and must be fresh in your minds. Radhe Maa an Indian self-styled God-Woman based in Borivali suburb of Mumbai. She changed the way of spirituality when she came to her devotees in glittering attires and heavy make ups. However, a scandal arose when her pictures of wearing skirts and dancing cabaret went viral. She was also accused of having a love affair. In 2015, she was stripped of her title.
This controversy was funny because no one had ever seen a Guru dancing on cabaret beats!
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Sathya Sai Baba
Satya Sai Baba is an Indian guru, and philanthropist. He claimed to be the reincarnation of Sai Baba of Shirdi. He was said to produce objects of Gold from his magical vibhuti. Sathya Sai Baba had a big following, including Sachin Tendulkar. Sathya Sai had his ashrams in about 126 countries and many free hospitals, clinics etc. The interesting thing is that his magic tricks have been caught on TV but he never commented on them. His declaration of his alleged omnipotence and omniscience, were a source of both fame and controversy.
In addition to that, When baba died it was said that his properties were worth Billions!
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Swami Nithyananda
Swami Nithyananda is the founder of the Nithyananda Dhyanapeetam headquartered in Bengaluru, India. His organization spans 50 countries with 10 million followers worldwide. He came into controversy when a video was leaked and media telecasted a compromising video footage of Swami ji with a south Indian actress Ranjitha. This sent Swamiji in Jail for 52 days, but the actress and Swamiji claimed that the video was doctored. However, The problems for Swamiji increased when in 2012, Indian-born American citizen Arthi Rao claimed that he had raped her for several years.
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Nirmal Baba
Nirmal Baba is an Indian spiritual leader and a motivational speaker who is known for his public discourses and has followers in some parts of the country. He has an interesting story. In 1981, Nirmaljit Singh Nirula began Brick Kiln Business, he suffered the loss and started a cloth shop, he was then involved in the mining of Kyanite. After all his business’s flopped one after another, he claimed that he has attained nirvana and became Nirmal Baba. He has faced legal complications for its fraudulent activities for charging exorbitant sum of money in the name of solving problems with Nirmal Baba’s self proclaimed, divine powers.
Pretty interesting thing to learn about him. Now I know what to do if my busineess failed!
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Asaram Bapu
Asaram Bapu was arrested in 2013 after a 16-year-old girl accused him of sexually assaulting her at his Jodhpur Ashram which was widely reported by the media. Since then, there have been numerous attacks against various witnesses in the case. Amrut Prajapati, one of Asaram Bapu’s personal aide, was killed on 23 May 2014, while another associate, Akhil Gupta, was shot dead on 11 January 2015.
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Narayan Sai
Narayan Sai is the successor of his father, Asaram Bapu. He along with his father is accused of the same charges but he is even a step ahead of his father when it comes to committing crimes. Narayan Sai faces a charge in which he is said to have sexual relations with a ‘sevika’ of her ashram and even has a child with her!
And these were the guys teaching us religion and ethics!
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Osho
This Godly man has many names, but was popularly known as Osho. Osho is an Indian mystic Guru, spiritual teacher and philosopher. He has many followers in India, but has a much bigger international following. His controversial books and his comments about religion, spirituality is widely discussed even today. The most controversialthing about him is his teaching about relationship of spirituality with sexual intimacy. His ashram is always in talks for good and bad reasons. Once deported from the USA, it is also said that he practiced sexual activities with many of his devotees. Some even claim that he died due to AIDS.