Friday, June 8, 2012

An encounter with the forces of darkness

Last evening was my first encounter with what writers refer to as "the mob". I have read enough about mob psychology and how people lose their senses and humaneness when they group together. But none of that prepares you for the shock of it.

It happened at close to 6pm. A bunch of us were chatting happily in a group in Bidadi. And suddenly someone shouted that there was trouble at the main gate. I rushed to see what was happening. A few others took their cars to cover the half a kilometer road to the gate.  And there, not unlike the mindless Orcs in the Lord of the Rings movies, there were a horde of about 40 to 50 hooligans wearing some ill colored scarfs and trying to climb over the gates to the ashram. The few ashramites who had gotten there earlier were struggling hard to keep them off the grounds.

Mindless Orcs
I took all of 3 seconds to understand the grave danger these hooligans posed. I saw a broken camera and a couple of people being trashed around. As I rushed to rescue one of them, the excuse for a human being who was beating him looked up and turned his attention on me. He rushed towards me with a look that I couldn't understand. There was neither anger nor any emotion. Just the "rage" of a paid Goonda. The rage was real.. but there was no reason for it. They were prostitutes who would supply their rage for anyone who paid them for the evening dose of alcohol.




Ashram administrator wounded 
I dodged this one and moved on to help another ashramite who was being beaten up by 3 hooligans. I put my hand between the ashramite and a stick aimed at him and received the first blow I got from these inhuman folk - whose upliftment is the very purpose for which Swami and the mission are working for.  Though the hand hurt a lot, the pain was more from my realizing how much more the other people were receiving. In the meelee I suddenly saw another ashramite reel over and blood all over his face. The gruesomeness of their own deed scared the mob and they retreated hastily - possibly fearing that he was dead


Suvarna-TV van that was present before the attack started
And the evil that unleashed these mindless  beings on us was from this channel called Suvarna which shamelessly tried to use Swami's name and some anti-Kannadiga sentiment just for the sake of their  TRP ratings. They tried hard to peddle this woman called Arti Rao - possibly paying her a lot of money to appear on their show.  But that hardly had any impact. None of the other media picked up this "excuse for news". Angered by their defeat, they sent one of their cheap editors - Ajit - to cause confusion in the press meet. And when that too did not pan out, they resorted to the old and trusted mob attack. The fact that it was planned attack was obvious because Suvarna's van was at the place of the attack before even we knew of the group gathering at the gate (look at their blue OB van showing up beneath the tree of the left).  And no other group was present to cover the attack. The police conveniently landed up 2 minutes after the last vehicle with the attackers left.

16 of the victims being illegally arrested without cause
And the fun part is, because of the political influence of Suvarna, 16 of us got arrested the next day - presumably for the crime of being beaten up! If it was not a serious issue it would make a terrific comedy story. So this was the worst side of the collective negativity - unthinking violent mobs, political influence, stark violation of human rights, media manipulating public opinion for their personal ends, police inaction.. The list goes on..





And at this point, a thought struck me as to much this was in stark contrast with what I has just seen just 20 hours back. This was in a village called Seeragapadi not far from the town of Salem in Tamil Nadu. I was driving with Swami from Madurai back to Bangalore and we had just driven all though the afternoon and night to reach Bidadi at 4 am that morning. Along the way a large number of devotees had gathered  and were waiting to catch a glimpse of Him. With so much love and eagerness they were waiting for more that 5 hours in each spot. We were delayed in starting from Madurai due to a number of reasons. But that did not deter them from waiting for just a glimpse of him. In the places where he got off the car one could feel the overflowing love and gratitude of the people. Their faces glowed with excitement and one could be very sure that they would all be on cloud 9 for the next month or more. Garlands and Gifts and Music .. and people waiting in the hot sun for hours - all for a 30 second stop over from Him. And in many places just to see him drive past. And this was not like a political meeting where people were paid to come and cheer. I knew many of them personally and I could see the love they had for Swami.


But none of that prepared me for what I saw in Seeragapadi. I was wondering why Swami would take a detour from the highway to visit this village when we were already running late. All other stops were on the highway itself. It was close to 8.30 in the night and we were a good 6 hours away from Bangalore. But I realized Why the moment the car turned towards the village. The entire village - every man, woman and child - was waiting outside the center there to receive Swami. And they had all been waiting from 2pm - which was when we were initially supposed to be there... and .. the news of his potential visit was given to them only a day earlier. All the women were holding mud pots with fire in them - a sign of respect and a show of their Tapas. But I could not see a bit of tiredness on their faces. Only intense and exploding ecstasy and joy as our car turned into the ashram. People gathered all around him for blessings. Songs were sung and he was invited in with traditional honors and music and once inside the large hall - which all the villagers had built with their own hands without any paid labour - I could see the entire group reflect the bliss an fulfillment of seeing their God. Swami had helped people in the village come out their caste conflict and alchoholism a few years back and now the whole village was into meditation and spreading the benefits of it. I didn't find one sad face in the entire group! I was told by the local police that there is no incident of crime there - none. zero. zilch. I don't know if I can do justice to what I saw that day. I know I cannot. But I encourage each one of you to visit the place. You will know how the enlightened world will look like not so far into the future.

And that memory of the drive was what kept me laughing through the encounter with society's worst. I was laughing inside all through it. I was surprised at that myself because it was a pretty serious situation all through. I then realized that this was because somewhere within me I knew that all this was a last ditch effort by desparate forces.  It looks superficially that there is a lot of resistance. But it is the resistance of the dying evil from the old world as it gives in to a new world of possibilities - that where human beings can live blissfully and in fulfillment. The very idea of which shakes up many of the established players in the field of  money, politics and even tradition.

And He did confirm this idea that came to me in his discourse that day. He beautifully said  (paraphrasing based on what I remember) "The people who love me and are grateful to me do so because they got something from me. They got their lives back. But the people who oppose me have had no interaction with me or are not directly affected by anything they complain about. It is just the collective negativity operating through them. And that is the big difference. And thats why we will win".

And That is why we will win.







12 comments:

  1. "The people who love me and are grateful to me do so because they got something from me. They got their lives back. But the people who oppose me have had no interaction with me or are not directly affected by anything they complain about. It is just the collective negativity operating through them. And that is the big difference. And thats why we will win"....... so beautifull distinguished.... Even through this statement flows the Cosmic Compassion... giving a reason for these unconscious souls uncultured activities....Love you my Sai... Love you my Swami.....nithyanandam...

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  2. Brilliant, really a brilliant article. Thank you, Nithyanandam!

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  3. Beautiful article!!! Felt the majesty of the worldwide sangha reading this. Here, in Canada, also the feeling is of intense excitement as the dying forces of darkness go through their death dance. The phenomena that is Nithyananda is in us all, we are one. Thank you so much for sharing this journey with us all! Nithyanandam!

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  4. I would love to visit he village Seeragapadi to experience what you did and to glimpse the world of future with Swami. It definerely is last ditch attempt from negative forces before they die out for good and truth triumphs. Nithyanandam!

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  5. Heart touching n thought provoking truths

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  6. Thank You Mokshapriyan for protecting our Beloved Swamiji and informing is what is really going on.

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  7. Ma kavya me too am with u in this visit for sure ...
    Ma Mokshpriyan the article is an eye opener to show the world ...the anti swami people specially.. who are yet unknown to the beautiful fact and the beautiful feeling it keeps u continously once you have met swamiji...being blissfull each n every second ....he simply starts taking care of you from that very moment .....nithyanandam

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  8. well written, touching...
    and, yes, we will win!!

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    1. bhavna shah says ...once again victory for sure....alls well that ends well

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  9. Well written article Mokshapriyan. Thank you so much. As Swamiji always appreciates, you get the right clicks and interpret life's events with the right perspective and connect them to Swamiji's teachings. I felt I was there in the scene. The last paragraph about Swamiji's quote is so profound. I always feel that the people who are missing Swamiji's teachings and blessings are totally missing the train. We are so blessed to be alive during Swamiji's mission on planet earth. I tell my friends that instead of criticizing Swamiji and believing the media, get to know Swamiji through his discourses first and then their own inner being will realize his greatness. Nithyanandam. I am glad all of you are safely back from prison and we hope the ashramite with stitches recovers soon being in Swamiji's energy field. Thanks to all the ashramites.

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  10. hi
    got your name in the daily today. tried to find your blog.

    enjoying your writing ........

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  11. Nithyanandam!

    What about those 16 who are/were illegally detained..?

    In Nithyananda,
    Shree Aananda Kubera

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