Who are fake Swamis and Paramahamsas?

Listen to this video and form your own opinion about the so called Indian godmen of different denominations such as Swamis, Babas, Paramahansas, etc. This video entitled “Fake Swamis and Paramahamsas” published on YouTube says, ‘Nowadays, Swami is a title. The Swami title is sold throughout the world, and there are many fake swamis that use this title to make themselves money. Many innocent people get trapped by these fake swamis and their "darshan"… Paramahamsa Nithyananda of Dhyanapeetam and "Life Bliss Foundation" just for a weekend two day program charge $750 and for a 21 day program they charge $6000 and $8000 for LBE brainwashing!!!”

Well, after reading the above statement, a question naturally arises, ‘Is Nithyananda of Dhyanapeetam running a commercial venture or is the Swami trying to promote spiritualism and meditation?’

Below the video there are some comments by readers some of which are quoted in this post.

A post by ‘formerinsider’ says, “Yes, it seems that both those titles can be bought. But, the title of 'Paramahamsa' is different. You need to fool thousands of gullible people that you never experienced teenage angst. When you can entertain attractive ladies in your personal quarters alone for several hours on end with no one questioning, then you know that you have reached the title of 'Paramahamsa'. You can then use it to get people to donate thousands of dollars to build stadiums & 24K gold thrones.”

This comment posted after a sex scandal broke out on March 2, after Sun TV published videotapes involving Nithyananda and a Tamil film actress Ranjitha and some other actresses, alleges that the title makes him entitled to get thousands of dollars in donation! So, the emphasis is not on meditation or Dhyana, but on money. That means the godman is trying to build his own business empire while pretending that he is serving the humanity. No true saints can be caught on videos as this swami is exposed.

The same person calling himself a former insider (formerinsider) continues, “But, don’t stop there. With the title of Paramahamsa you can get people to worship your smelly feet, rename Hindu deities after you, place your mug on malas (rosaries), hang your picture above all the other deities in a temple, change holy mantras by substituting your name with Gods name, enlist people to be your slave, demand 10 percent of their income (if they still have one), why, you are even above the law. No karma or police can touch you now. Just like 'Paramahamsa' Nithyananda”.

Yes, the swami in reference here has built himself as a commercial brand. You can buy many things from his Ashram stores with the Nithyananda brand name, even the Yoga and meditation are with his brand name. Substituting the swami’s name in Mantras/scriptures is against the spirit of the scriptures, demanding 10 percent of your earning is business, not spirituality. But you find the photos, videos and other religious materials promoting the Swami finding the most significant importance over the religion or cult they represent. The true gurus of India like Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa or Sri Ramana Maharshi never did any of the questionable acts the tainted godmen of today do.

Another comment by LvDaMuzic says, “Irony is these swamis who claim to have power to relieve people out of power ignore half a billion poor Indians but fly to western countries to "help" rich Indians. Even the so called good swamis should stop themselves within the limits of a teacher. They are nothing more than that. These swamis have spent time studying Hinduism and can teach others about the religion. None of the swamis can solve anyone's personal problem.”

The above comment reflects the natural question that arises in the minds of a person who can think without being influenced by these gurus. Why don’t these godmen first solve the problems of several millions of poor Indians before they turn to USA and Europe to help the people there? Don’t they find problems in India? Or, is it that the poor Indians do not deserve their services? And these people are just teachers of religion and they cannot solve others’ problems. If they can solve the problems of others, why can’t they solve their own problems like freeing themselves from the temptation to be with multiple partners as the videos show?

And why are they now being investigated by police, scandalized by the media and their private properties worth billions of dollars being vandalized by the people around their Ashrams? And the tainted Nithyananda is now sued against too. Well, he may easily come out of the legal troubles, but can he come out of the infamy? If not, how can they help others? And why do they behave like criminals by trying to intimidate the whistle-blowers like Lenin Karuppan who video-taped and exposed the scandal thereby showing the claims of celibacy and sanyas are just undiluted lies? Can the Swami solve the current problem he is in? If he cannot how can he solve the problems of others?