Shivani has called our attention to Nithyananda Swami, a man seemingly cut in the Keith Raniere mold. But Nithyananda seems a little smarter than Raniere. When the authorities were out to arrest him for rape, he dashed out of India and bought his own island near Ecuador where he cannot be extradited. Raniere stupidly went to Mexico where he could be arrested and was deported. Let’s take a look at Shivani’s view of Nithyananda for this joker deserves some scrutiny and perhaps – with some good reporting – a few of his fools might wake up to his bogus teachings and leave this “renunciate”.
By Shivani
There’s a now notorious fake guru named Nithyananda who has fled recently from India because he was accused of rape by the authorities in Gujurat, a state in western India. He has acquired an island from Ecuador.
His days playing God in India, mainly in Gujarat, were about to come to an end. The only surprise about this is how long he got away with his guru-status without being arrested for his sexual habits.
Years back, when I first noticed Nithyananda, he was being mythologized as a very youthful renunciant and “god-man.”
Well, finally that fell apart for this jackass, because his ego got too big and he didn’t bother to be subtle anymore about his sexual appetites.
What a mishmash of spiritual stew and sexual hijinks Nithyananda made for himself and his devotees, most of whom remain stalwart about his divinity and so-called teachings. He became very famous in India as an enlightened being.
Just now Nithyananda announced he has founded a new, independent island nation. It is near Trinidad and Tobago, and he has named it Kailaasa. The name is derived from Mount Kailash, a high Himalayan peak in the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China.
Mount Kailash is an ancient, sacred site, a mountain which is not climbed, as this would disrespect the feelings of many faiths, including the Hindus, the Jains, the Buddhists and the Tibetan Bons.
Kailash is seen as the ancient home of the Gods. People make pilgrimages to the base of Kailash from all over Asia, especially during the warmer and less monsoon-like season. This has been happening for centuries. My own very dear ex-husband has accompanied his guru there in recent years. I will not go down that rabbit hole just now while referring to Nithyananda, but my ex is now in his late seventies and has “retired” to live in India with his (latest) guru.
This fake “holy master” Nithyananda started young and got famous in his early twenties. He walked all over various parts of India delivering his God-man platitudes and gathering disciples. I used to see photos in Indian press of Nithyananda sitting and giving satsang to his substantial crowd. It was unavoidable to notice a few things about his set-up. Those chelas (students) who sat up front, closest to him were almost all young women. Row after row of young women seated nearest to him struck me as a sign of what Nithyananda was designing.
This is unusual in India, where crowds gather rapidly and most often are composed of men, who are out and about more than women tend to be, especially in less metropolitan areas. Now India has been changing a lot through the decades, since my family and I lived and traveled there for many years, starting around forty years ago. India is more polluted and crowded and more modernized than ever, of course. But the guru game has always been a tradition in India.
When we began living there, Nithyananda was not even born. He came along on March 13, 1977. As he became famous, already he was messing around, doing things like changing his birth date to January 1, 1978, getting faked blood tests to show he was chockful of rare amounts of testosterone, changing his name from Tiru Rajasheka to Nithyananda Swami and trying on 3 or 4 more birth dates shown in various documents.
He has gotten older and pudgier, dresses more and more fancily, is more markedly egotistical. He got himself a load of followers and plenty of money, but Nithyananda’s main weakness and interest appears to have been to get himself more and more “worship” via sex. He accepts puja (gifts) and enjoys unpaid labor, the best accommodations, etc.
Now he has his own island and has declared it an independent nation and is far removed from extradition. Since I began looking into cult-like societies in the 1960s, there have been numerous similarities to observe between them, regardless of the propounded “religious beliefs” being used as the core philosophies.
This isn’t intended to invalidate what Nancy Durkin has written about Keith Raniere and Jim Jones being rather alike.
However I also see at least as many distinctions as likenesses between these men and their organizations. Power madness and greed, sick sexuality, deception and trickery abound all over the world. One can see the same in the political arenas internationally. There does not need to be a religious or a spiritual excuse. The danger comes out to public when the movement and the guru or leadership begin to get caught and the organizations start their decline and begin the last lingering moments of their swan songs or try to find new disguises, costumes.
Anyone interested in peeking into Nithyananda, simply type in “Nithayananda’s island,” for the latest. There is plenty of press, waiting to pop up and to study.
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Nithyananda Swami even had his own actress ala Allison Mack. Her name is Ranjita and unfortunately for Nithyananda who pretends to be a celibate, a video captured him acting in a very un-swami like behavior with her.
The holy man with the famous Tamil actress, Ranjita, caught in a candid video.
Not unlike Allison Mack, Ranjita remained faithful to her ‘renunciate’ guru and claimed she was going to leave acting and become a renunciate.
Nithyananda in communion with a tree.
