Godman missing after TV expose

The shockingly explicit videos showing Nityananda romancing a Tamil actress, identified as Ranjitha, being repeatedly beamed in some regional television channels sparked furious protests as many devotees felt “a breakdown of faith and trust”, one of them told Deccan Herald.

Nityananda’s thatch-roofed ashram along the Girivalam path’ (the pathway around the sacred hill of Arunachala in Tiruvannamalai, some 180 km southwest of Chennai), was attacked by some miscreants late on Tuesday night even as some others sought to barge in and assault its inmates on Wednesday. The articles kept for pooja at his Tiruvannamalai ashram were thrown out.

Police sources said the godman rarely came to his ashram at Tirunvannamalai, which is also his native town.

However, he catalysed the formation of several smaller ashrams in different parts of Tamil Nadu besides meditation and yoga centres to spread the ever-smiling swami’s “philosophy with fresh air.”

Tragically, all this goodwill and affection the 32-year-old Nityananda had built in recent years, were smashed in a moment. The ‘God that failed’ suddenly became a target of arson and destruction in various places. In Thovalai in Kanniyakumari district, a bust of the Godman was broken to pieces as his la affaire Ranjitha spread like wildfire, sources said.

Youngsters, some of whom linked to a ‘Sangh Parivar’ outfit, Hindu Makkal Katchi, h anger tore and burnt his posters at several places including in Sirkali, Sattanathapuram, Pondicherry, Cuddalore, and Tirunelveli down South for bringing disrepute to Hindu religion and spirituality.

 The sign-boards and banners at some of his ‘Yoga’ Centres as in Chennai were quickly removed by his fans fearing more violent attacks.
Tearing down the Godman’s digital banners and garlanding his portraits with chappals were part of the violent protests in some places.

In Coimbatore an angry mob stormed into one of his meditation centres and ransacked it, sources said, adding, the HMK even demanded the Swamiji’s arrest.
However, the overall situation was under control and there was no cause for alarm, Police said, playing down the emotional outbursts.
DH News Service