Swami's marriage upsets sect followers in Goa

His decision to take a bride has set off an acrimonious debate

P P Brahmeshanand Swami’s decision to take a bride has set off an acrimonious debate within the Padmanabh Sampradaya, Goa’s largest bahujan samaj sect. A public meeting at Ponda was called for the priest to relinquish charge of his spiritual duties after his May 12 wedding became public. The swami, in his early 20s, heads the Tapobhumi Mutt in Madkaim, South Goa.

The Padmanabh Sampradaya does not forbid its religious heads from marrying. But the present swami was expected to remain detached from his family and other ties because of his anointment at a very early age, say followers. He came into the position at the age of 18 after the death of the hugely popular Brahmanand Swami in 2003.

Mockery of the sect

It was understood that he would have to break off relations with his family, and not to have any attachments that would lower his spiritual authority, says Marathi writer, politician and core member of the sect, Vishnu Wagh.

Brahmeshanand’s decision to move his family into the mutt, host a huge wedding for his sister and import creature comforts such as air-conditioner into the spiritual abode make a mockery of the sects core beliefs, says Wagh.

Goa’s bahujan samaj made up largely of the bhandari samaj, the kharvis (fishing community) and some others set up a branch of the Mumbai-based Padmanabh Shishya Sampradaya here to break away from the stranglehold of the upper castes over the Hindu priesthood. A number of non-brahmins from Goa were sent to Nasik by the sect to do religious studies in Sanskrit for the first time, says Wagh.
DH News Service