Paramahamsa, Really!?

Dearest Adi Shankaracharya,

First and foremost, I would like to offer my most respectful salutations and obeisance to you, the greatest of saints who attained the peak of salvation at quite a young age. You were the very epitome of the Bhakti Movement and through you, Hindus all around the world were made acquainted with the Advaita Vedanta. In your short life of 32 years, you managed to survive temperatures ranging from less than zero degrees, while scaling practically the whole of India with nothing but a staff and your two trusted feet. Your aim was clear, and your vision was true, all you wanted to achieve was a clear understanding of the human soul. You said, “Brahma satyam jagat mithyā, jīvo brahmaiva nāparah”, the soul is the only truth, the world is an illusion, and there is ultimately no difference between the soul and individual self. You were very successful in maintaining your prominence which very much differs from the saints of our time and also, you were successful in coming up with wonderful and expert commentaries on all the sacred texts that can be found in Hinduism. Your soul left your body paving way to the revival of the highly gruesome social practices which were followed back then in the name of Hinduism. You brought about a radical change, you lived the life of a saint, and you lived the life of a true swami.

Today a complete thousand years after your very sad demise, the entire concept of a guru, has been absolutely tainted by the so called god men of recent times. Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita, has said that if any person wants to live life and grasp its essence it is quintessential for him to accept for himself a guru, but my question to you is, is there any single person who lives the life of a guru in its truest quintessence for us to accept? The world today is in a severe state of confusion where people have no time for themselves and their personal lives; they choose to adopt a course of spirituality in order to de-stress themselves. The authority which holds a supreme position in the Guru-Sishya relationship, The Upanishads, clearly states that a Guru must strictly follow what he preaches. You often stated that life is but an illusion and that, the human body is prone to give away to certain desires and in order to fulfill your desires you were married once, but today, the supposed guru’s very sadly advertise their celibacy while on the other hand constantly involve themselves in under the table businesses quite literally.

I would like to bring to your knowledge the issue of the Kanchi Paramakoti case which today is long forgotten although it involved the brutal murder of an honest temple accountant, Sankararaman in broad day light within the temple premises for pointing out to the concerned authorities the amount of misappropriation of funds that is being shamelessly carried out by the seers of a temple which was initially established by you. What followed was a series of investigations which led to a woman openly claiming to be sexually involved with the head seer besides unearthing over a dozen of compact discs containing pornographic material. The seers who have today inherited your great religious empire have completely forgotten your basic principle of austerity. You would be surprised to know that the High Seer of the Shringeri Mutt sits on a tiger skin which has been neatly pasted over a Mercedes Benz during his public processions, the car seats also, have been furnished using only tiger skins and today, quite ironically we hear people venting tears for the less than 1411 tigers that we have in our country. You on the other hand had no option but to walk across all four corners of this beautiful nation called India. Coming to the killing of tigers, you also preached that the so called Guru’s must practice the theory of Ahimsa and refrain from causing any sort of a pain to another living creature, right? Funny that they don’t seem to understand what you laid down in such simple words.

It will completely sadden you if I told you about the type of atrocities that are present in the Shabari Malai temple of Kerala. I still remember the day when I embraced the sacred necklace and chose to maintain cleanliness of body and mind for forty one days, I expected a Shabari Malai of utmost religious fervor and sacredness. On entering the temple premises and asking if I could render services to the deity by performing any pooja, the temple priests who have been ordained through the lineage of pure blood to maintain the supreme most purity began to act like selfish, greedy individuals bargaining with us the rates of the Pooja we chose to perform. Thanks to the lords presence, we managed to bring the rate down from a whooping Rs. 10,000/- to a quite lump some Rs. 5,000/- when it is in fact worth less than Rs. 500/-. In actuality, such is the spotlessness and purity we find in our temples and holy shrines today.

The most recent episode of “Paramahamsa” Nithyananda is however the icebreaker, the magnum opus of all forms of atrocities that I have mentioned so far. A man who in the eyes of the public has chosen to be a celibate and to refrain himself from any “impure” act choosing the same for himself without an pressure in all his competency, was caught through hidden cameras engaging himself in sexual activities with a woman. What is shocking is that, reportedly, several storage devices containing videos of him engaging in sexual activities with various women was recovered along with copies of contracts, binding a woman or any devotee for that matter to him, with a disclaimer that no alarm shall be raised when any form of a sexual act is performed. The “Paramahamsa” also has an astonishing Rs. Thirty Two Crores to his name while I write this letter to you. When questioned about his acts with the woman on the video he claimed to be in a trance of extreme bliss, and apparently was performing a type of an experiment. An experiment it sure wasn’t, but the extreme bliss was very evident. The word “Paramahamsa” which in Sanskrit refers to the “Supreme form of bliss” that which can be attained only through spiritual enlightenment has been completely ridiculed through this shameless man! Today, he has claimed that he is impotent and that he must go through a potency taste to uphold his innocence, more so, he also claims to be transgender, isn't it rather traumatizing and disturbing that he is ready to stoop to such levels to prove his "supposed" innocence? Ultimately, a person once stained is stained for ever, and this person seems to have left no stone unturned in disgracing himself and the very essence of Hinduism. It was Oscar Wilde who aptly quoted, “Every saint has a past and every sinner, a future.” But in cases where a supposed saint is busy engaging in sinful activities, where is this distant, isolated future that is being spoken about?

This day, my heart goes out to you and to your greatness. In a time when there was no simplified medium through which a subject as vast as Hinduism could be propagated, you did with so much ease in the course of your small life. Today, when there is such a vast technological growth, when the true spirit of yoga and faithfulness can easily be spread all across barriers, these self-styled guru’s have just done every possible thing, to ruin it all. I wouldn’t think twice in saying that the Americans weren’t wrong in taking away the patents for yoga, at least, in all their gullibility and lack of actual knowledge, they are doing their best to preserve something as ancient, as pure as it. My apologies to you for this obnoxious state our religion is in and I really hope you aren’t crying blood tears looking at this ghastly, atrocious impression these foul souls have created of the Guru-shishya (Teacher-student) relationship and most importantly of something that is most dear to you, Hinduism – The way of leading life.

With Lots of Love and Respects,

Your Humble Student.