Jo nahin dikhta hai, who zyada bikta hai!

Sex sells, so does Sharukh Khan, whoever who said it, rightly did so. But in this part of the world, there is another commodity that sells more and faster. That is nothing but spirituality. Hello, Chinna Jeeyar has more fans than Chiranjeevi, for your kind information!

Jo diktha hai, who bikta hai, said Rakhhi Sawant once. In her case, she is perhaps right. But the thing the ‘item girl’ doesn’t know is ‘Jo nahin diktha hai, woh zyada bikta hai’.

Take the example of hundreds of babas, godmen and evangelists who come to the city time and again. Having lived very close to the famed Nizam College Grounds for years, I wondered many a times from where devotees descended in large numbers when these spiritual gurus conducted sermons. Standing atop the roof of my rented house, I used to watch people eagerly listening with hope in their souls that some savior would come one day to deliver them from all evils.  I could see thousands chanting some bhajans and going into mass trance.

When Joyce Meyer conduct a prayer meet at Gymkhana Grounds, the venue turns an ocean of humans at the same place where no one used to recognize Dr APJ Abdul Kalam who used to visit the Chief Engineer’s office at Picket (of course, before he occupied the highest office in the country) in a rickety old Ambassador.

The loony old man who used to sit in front of Nampally Railway Station, smoking endless cigarettes day in and day out once upon a time, I hear, is a revered baba somewhere on the outskirts of the city today.

Come December, thousands of devotees wear mala and take penance for 40 days rigorously to have darshan of Lord Ayyappa in Sabarimala. They abstain from alcohol and non-vegetarian food. They suppress their carnal desires. No footwear, no copulation. And finally when they reach the abode of Lord, what welcomes them is a huge sign board telling Tatvamasi! Still they miss the deep meaning implied and come back as relieved souls to resume their dishonest businesses.

I personally know a world renowned yoga guru who rakes in moolah collected from his ‘high-class’ and celebrity disciples! Interestingly he set his base in Hyderabad, the most suitable place for his businesses.  

People pursuing spiritual contentment may not know, many ardent spiritualists are atheists! One among them, Swamy Nityachaitanya Yati, a spiritual guru, who was revered the world over, but never believed in the existence of God in the form that people generally perceive, once had an interesting anecdote to say: He was walking along the streets of a thickly populated residential colony in Delhi. A worried man came down from an apartment nearby and fell at the feet of the saffron-clad sanyasi. He requested Yati to bless his ailing father who might breathe his last at any time. Though embarrassed a bit, Yati went to the sickbed and told him there was nothing to worry and he was not going to die.

And after five years, while Yati was walking along the same street, an overjoyed man came to him and thanked him profusely for saving the life of his father whom the doctors had given up. And for Yati, who was ushered into that house, the sight of the perfectly healthy old man was incredible!