Nithyananda is an Indian Hindu guru, religious leader and cult leader who is known to be involved in various controversies such as rape cases and kidnappings.
Contents
Wiki/Biography
Nithyananda was born as Arunachalam Rajasekharan in Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu. His actual age has been a matter of controversy. According to some sources, he was born on Sunday, 13 March 1977 (age 45 years; as of 2023) while some sources say that he was born on Sunday, 1 January 1978 (age 44 years; as of 2022). He was issued a US visa in 2003 stating that he was born on 13 March 1977, but he stated in a petition filed in the Karnataka High Court that he was born on 1 January 1978.
Physical Appearance
Height (Approx): 5′ 7″
Hair Color: Black
Eye colour: black
Family
parents and siblings
Nityananda’s father’s name is Arunachalam. His mother’s name is Lokanayaki. she has two brothers. After his father’s death his mother started living with him in his ashram.
wife and children
As of 2022, he is unmarried.
Religion
Nityananda follows Hindu religion.
CASTEISMAND
Nityananda belongs to the Shaiva Vellala community.
livelihood
guru/god
At the age of three, he was noticed by Yogiraj Yogananda Puri and claimed to have had spiritual experiences when he was 12 years old. He attained enlightenment at the age of 22. When he was seventeen, he wandered around for eight years and then settled in Bangalore. He was given the name Nityananda by Mahavatar Babaji and started his public life under this name at the age of 24. In 2003, he established his own ashram in Bidadi, Bengaluru, named Dhyanapeetam. In 2012, Nithyananda was named among the ‘100 Most Spiritually Influential People Alive’ by Watkins Mind Body Spirit magazine. In February 2013, he was given the title of Mahamandaleshwar in a ceremony by the Panchayati Mahanirvani Akhara. Some sources suggest that he served as the President of Hindu University in Florida, USA. Nityananda Dhyanapeetham, the religious organization founded by him, contributes to various temples, gurukuls and ashrams in many countries. It also hosts cultural events in the United States and India. Her organization has won two records – one Guinness World Record for the largest rope yoga classes, and the other for the largest pole yoga class. Nityananda learned various scriptures including the Brahma Sutras, the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, the Shiva Sutras, and the Bhagavad Gita. According to some reports, he has made many unbelievable claims. Once, he claimed that he delayed sunrise by 40 minutes because he could not reach an event on time. He said that he could make cows, horses and monkeys speak in Tamil and Sanskrit. He also said that he could falsify the mass-energy equivalence formula E = mc2. At some events, he claimed to have expertise in over 60 powers, including Kundalini and third eye awakening. He also claims to have experienced paranormal activities. According to him, he could open the third eye of any person so that people could use it to pass through walls and fog. He also suggested blind children to open their third eye. His claims were challenged by skeptic Narendra Nayak. He declared that he and his followers could perform activities such as extrasensory perception, materialization, body scanning, heightening, remote viewing, and finding lost objects. Nityananda has published over 500 books based on his teachings. The books have been written in 27 languages.
A collage of Nityananda during different eras
construction of kailasa
In 2019, he pushed for the creation of a new “Hindu nation” Kailasha. He also said that if anyone wants to visit the country, they will need a passport. The nation also had its own currency. In his announcement he said,
Kailasha is a borderless nation created by dispossessed Hindus from around the world who have lost the right to practice Hinduism authentically in their own countries.”
In August 2020, he launched the Reserve Bank of Kailash and issued his own currency, the Kailashan dollar, which was designed based on the currency of the ancient 56 Hindu nations. In December 2020, he announced that people who wanted to visit Kailash should get a visa to Australia and from there they would be flown to Kailash by a private plane. On 19 April 2021, they banned travel to Kailash from India, Brazil, the European Union and Malaysia during the pandemic. On June 7, 2021, he said that he would return to India if India accepts him with full respect. He also said that if he comes to India, Covid will disappear from India.
National Flag of Kailash
controversies
Controversial video tape with actress Ranjitha
In 2010, Tamil television channel Sun TV played a video of Nithyananda with his follower Tamil actress Ranjitha in a hotel room. It was claimed that the video was morphed by Nithyananda and Ranjitha and they also accused Sun TV of extortion. The video was sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory in Bengaluru which claimed that Nithyananda and Ranjitha were in the video. Later, after Ranjitha filed a complaint against Sun TV in the Karnataka High Court, the channels apologized to her for violating her privacy.
Nityananda accused of rape
In 2010, Nithyananda was accused of rape by a girl from the United States who was his preceptor. The girl claimed that Nithyananda raped her continuously for five years in India and America. She filed complaints against him and five other accused with the Ann Arbor Police Department and Karnataka Police in India, but no investigation was conducted against him. On 19 February 2018, the Third Additional District and Sessions Court in Ramnagar began investigating the case, but he was released from custody on 16 May 2018. The case was later taken to the Supreme Court of India and he was released from custody on 1 June 2018 due to lack of evidence. On June 4, 2018, a complaint was filed against him in the Ramanagara court and in August 2022, he was issued a non-bailable warrant by the Third Additional District and Sessions Court in Ramanagara. In 2021, following the death of Madurai Adheenam Arunagirinath Desika Paramacharya Swamigal in August, Nithyananda was made the 293rd Pontiff of the Madurai Adheenam. He announced this in a social media post and wrote,
All spiritual, religious, traditional rituals and official formalities of succession as the 293rd priest of Madurai Adheenam as per the temporal rules of Kailasa have been completed.”
His appointment as Pope of Madurai Adheenam was challenged by the Madras High Court. In an interview, Nithyananda talked about the Madras High Court order staying his appointment and said it harmed his fundamental right to worship and religion.
Accusation of kidnapping of girls
In 2019, Nithyananda was accused of taking two girls to his ashram in Ahmedabad without their parents’ permission. The Tamil Nadu couple approached the Gujarat High Court and asked them to return their children. On November 17, 2019, Gujarat Police had filed an FIR against him on kidnapping charges. The girls denied their father’s complaint and said that they were not forcibly taken away. The girls further said that their father made such complaints because he was an accused in an embezzlement case.
Kidnapping of children by Nityananda
In 2021, two children aged 8 and 9 alleged that they were taken to the ashram and tortured there. He further told that he was kept in a flat for ten days and made to work there. Following the complaints, he left India, but two other accused were arrested by the police. The principal of Delhi Public School near Ahmedabad was also arrested because he had allowed Nityananda to establish an ashram in the school.
accused of dating a woman
In 2010, a woman named Aarti Rao claimed that she dated Nithyananda for five years. In an interview, he clarified the allegation and said,
She was never a resident of my organization. Even if she was having an affair with me, how could she hide it from her husband or her parents? Her parents were staying in my ashram and she used to stay with them whenever she came.
He also said that Aarti wanted him to get treatment for her sexually transmitted disease.
Condoms and tiger skin recovered from the ashram
After a raid in his ashram in 2010, it was revealed that Nityananda was keeping tiger skin and elephant teeth in his ashram. Condoms were also found in his ashram during the raid. Talking about this in an interview he said,
There were no condoms. If I had to indulge in such activities, I would have got married.
Facts/General Knowledge
- His followers also know him as Nityananda Paramasivam.
- Nityananda is a highly controversial guru and has been accused in many cases. In 2019, when he could not attend a court hearing, the Gujarat Police claimed that he had fled India. He later accepted the charge and said that he left India because he feared mob lynching and murder in India. According to the police, he had gone to Ecuador to establish his country Kailasha, but the Ecuadorian Embassy said that it “categorically refutes the statement where it was published that Nithyananda was given asylum by Ecuador or Ecuador. The government helped him buy anything.” Land or island in South America. Later, the embassy agreed to let Nithyananda visit the country but said he went because his international personal protection (asylum) request was rejected.
- In August 2022, Nithyananda was unwell and in need of asylum, therefore, one of his representatives requested Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe to help establish an asylum in his country. He said that if Nithyananda was offered help he would contribute to Sri Lanka. He further suggested that Kailasha should establish political relations with Sri Lanka so that he could be treated.
- In October 2022, Nithyananda’s British representative Atmadaya went to Parliament House to participate in a ceremony. At the party, a full-page advertisement about Nityananda was distributed among the attendees by Nityananda’s organisation, ‘Nityananda Dhyanapeetam’ or ‘Nityananda Meditation Academy’. The attendees were not happy with Atmadya’s invitation.
- In 2022, he received an Interpol Blue Notice from the International Criminal Police Organization and a non-bailable warrant from the court on ongoing rape charges against him.
- Many celebrities came into limelight for their relationship with Nityananda. In January 2011, Bollywood actress Juhi Chawla visited his ashram in Bengaluru and stayed there for 4 days. It was told that she wanted to seek his blessings for her brother who was in coma at that time.
- In an interview, he had said that when he was 12 years old, a genetic mutation occurred in his body, which makes him neither male nor female. In the interview he further said,
But I am neither a man nor a woman. Psychological and physical mutations occurred in my body. I am not capable of committing the acts of which I have been accused. I am ready for any kind of test on my body.
- In 2022, a web series ‘My Daughter Joined a Cult’ based on the crimes committed by Nithyananda was released on Discovery+.
Poster of web series ‘My Daughter Joined a Cult’
- In 2022, South Indian actress Priya Anand had said in an interview that she wants to marry Nityanand. She also said that if she married him she would not have to change her last name because they had the same last name.
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn