JOIN USPost scandal, Nithyananda's commerce takes hit
Consequently, some of Nithyananda’s principal associates in the US, men who ran Life Bliss Foundation and some other associated organisations have also disappeared from public view and are at present lying low. Life Bliss Foundation is described in its website as “part of a worldwide movement for meditation and healing.”
After March 2, an important fallout of the sex scandal involving the 33-year-old self-styled godman was that several of his devotees quit the ashrams in Tamil Nadu and Bangalore.
The Nithyananda Dhyanapeetam’s so-called spiritual and healing programmes have been discontinued and online purchase of products, typically “energised by the Master”, at www.anandagalleria.com is not possible because the link has stopped working. Besides, on March 11, online purchases could not be made because the website said “PayPal transactions have been removed now due to technical reasons.”
Energised jewellery
Bracelets made of rudrakasha beads, described on the website as ‘energised jewellery’, are priced at $12, two ‘lotus seed malas’ are priced at $25, banyan leaves cost $35, a pure silver ‘guru puja’ set costs $550, a copy of a statue of Patanjali, described as ‘father of yoga’, costs $2,430, an antique Vishnu statue is priced at $882, a 36-inch Radha-Krishna marble statue costs $2,880, a ‘baby Buddha on lotus’ costs $18. There are, of course, more such items the online store sells in the name of ‘Nithyananda sacred arts.’
What is, however, interesting is that some of Nithyananda’s programmes to “experience living enlightenment” have been postponed or discontinued until further notice. One such programme, “Inner Awakening”, which costs $6,000, has been postponed till July. It was to be held at the Kallugopahalli ashram near here. When contacted, programme administrator Nithya Yogeshwari said: “It has been postponed because of the unwanted situation.”
Likewise, the fate of the Life Bliss Programme, that is to be held at the Nithyananda Vedic Temple on April 24 and 25 in Delaware, Ohio, is unknown since online payments to register for it cannot be made.
The events page for the so-called Yogam 2010 tour, that were to be conducted by one Nithya Sadhananda, alias Dhanasekharan, one of Nithyananda’s closest confidantes, has turned blank.
Besides, the web pages displaying the programme schedules of Nithyananda’s two spiritual heads, Bhaktananda and Medhananda, contain no listings. When contacted over phone, Medhananda said he was no longer vice-president of the International Vedic Hindu University in Orlando, Florida. Refusing to say what his present position in the Nithyananda order was, Medhananda, who lives in California, hurriedly disconnected the line.
Godman admits actress ‘served’ him
Bangalore: In a televised interview to a regional channel from an undisclosed location, Nithyananda on Saturday claimed the sleazy video footage showing him in sex romp with a Tamil actress was morphed, though he admitted that Tamil actress Ranjitha has ‘served’ him ‘for a long time’. Shifty and evasive in his replies to most of the questions, the self-styled godman said his organisation had sent copies of the video ‘to London’ where they would be tested for their genuineness.