The Bigoted Godman

By Ankit Tiwari

For a lot of us it was around 2014-15 when we came across a spiritual Guru who made a lot of sense to us. He sounded logical and rational; his talks provided respite to his followers from their daily chores. His equanimity, well-articulated and exuberant ideas, his pragmatic philosophy won millions of hearts and overwhelmed the audience. He achieved an unparalleled popularity.

Yes, we are talking about the founder of Isha Foundation.

He was everywhere; on social media, YouTube channels and the Prime Time media show for debates and discussions for providing his spiritual insight.

2016 onwards, there was a major shift in the kind of discussions and views expressed by Sadhguru.

In a debate while comparing the history of Mughals with that of Britishers, Sadhguru expressed his views and said, “We should not hate Mughals for what they did to us, but at the same time we also must not forget what terrible things they did to us”. He rejected the view of other panelists who argued that the Mughals stayed here and became us, whereas Britishers took everything from here and transported it to Britain. Sadhguru’s response was that Mughals did not take anything away because there were transportation issues and no ships were present at that time nor did he accept the presence of proper land routes. This was not just bizarre but also obnoxious to come from a person of Sadhguru’s stature.

Later in an interview with one of the pro right-wing news channel, he was asked how he feels when people raise slogans like “Bharat Tere Tukde honge”, and “Afzal hum Sharminda Hain”, forget about questioning the authenticity and credibility of such videos (which any reasonable person should do) he expressed his displeasure with the people accused of raising such slogans. He said people who talk about tukde-tukde must not exist in this country. This infrastructure wherever it is, be it social media or other platforms must be dismantled and these people as per the law shouldn’t be walking on the streets. Such a response from a person followed by multitude of people of different ideologies and age groups, rendered the followers dejected.

In another of his recent videos he did an inept act by comparing the reigns of Hindu mythical god Rama with the reign of medieval Mughal ruler Babur. He described Rama as exuding the right kind of qualities, who inspired people for righteousness, who is an icon for peace, forgiveness, and tolerance. He described Babur (third generation after Genghis Khan) as extremely brutal and atrocious. Genghis Khan killed around 40 million people in the world and Timur slaughtered nearly 17 million. Timur’s territory was till Delhi; surprisingly Sadhguru found no element of religion involved here, but for him Babur slaughtered the people in the name of religion and it was not just for power and conquest as it was for his predecessors. 

This clearly is a misrepresentation of facts and it shows the prejudice that the godman carries. Firstly, Babur was struggling for years to defend his claim over the territories of Samarkand and Fergana. Later, until 1524 he wanted to expand his territory till Punjab mainly to fulfil the legacy of Timur. Babur was invited to attack the crumbling Delhi Sultanate (Lodi dynasty) by Daulat Khan Lodi, the Governor of Punjab and Ala-ud-din Lodi, uncle of Ibrahim Lodi. The Rajput ruler upon knowing of Babur’s invasion had also sent an ambassador to Babur at Kabul. Sanga offered to attack Lodi at Agra. Sanga later on changed his mind and did not attack Lodi, he had the belief that Babur like his predecessor would leave Delhi after looting the capital. Babur did call the battle with Rana Sanga as jihad but it was only to motivate the depressed soldiers.

Some historians even mention the fact that before dying Babur told Humayun to have more Rajput governor’s and disallow cow sacrifice on Eid just to respect the Hindu sentiments. Such facts are completely overlooked by Sadhguru. Sadhguru wants the legacy of Babur to be erased from this country in every way possible and no one should ever identify themselves with him. So, does he also want to erase the legacy of the Rajput governors under Babur and other Mughal rulers, and does he also want us to erase the legacy of Great Rana Sanga who offered to join the attack?

Recently, when the CAA/NRC issue came to the fore, Sadhguru criticised the protesters and called them uneducated people who don’t understand the Act. His argument was, if you don’t like the Act go to court, win the case; if you lose in court then contest elections. 

What Sadhguru fails to understand is that there cannot be a judicial review of a policy decision. Our Supreme Court does not interfere with the policy decision. It’s the constitutionality of the Act that is judicially reviewable. And, by Sadhguru’s logic if you do not agree with the government’s policy you should go to court or contest elections. Then, should the ex-serviceman asking for one-rank-one-pension stop protesting and contest elections? Or when every time there is an unjust fee hike student should plan for contesting elections? 

In a democratic system citizens have rights; there are rights against the state so it does not use its power arbitrarily and infringe our rights. These rights help citizens to make the government of the day answerable and accountable. Government is just a service provider.

But unfortunately, Sadhguru lacks this understanding. Sadhguru is a blessing for India’s hyper-national conservative people who now have a popular spiritual figure to validate their extreme intolerant politics. Behind his humanistic preaching hides a philosophy of exclusion and retribution.

Sadhguru has a skewed understanding of democracy which should be more about the governed and not about those who govern. He misconceives it to be a strong centralisation of power while it should rather be about the democratic decentralisation of power and all-inclusive in nature. This is why Sadhguru is not even near to the Left as he claims to be. He has a distorted interpretation of the left, democracy and secular-ethos of our nation.

Sadhguru often talks about Gautam Buddha in his sessions, so let’s discuss some of the Noble Truths Buddha talked about

• Correct view, an accurate understanding of the nature of things.
• Correct intention, avoiding thoughts of attachment, hatred, and harmful Intent.
• Correct speech, refraining from verbal misdeeds such as lying, harsh speech and senseless speech
• Correct actions

Weirdly enough our most beloved ebullient spiritual Guru does not follow the Noble Truths bestowed by Buddhism on our society. 

We should choose wisely who we follow.

DISCLAIMER: ALL VIEWS EXPRESSED IN THIS ARTICLE ARE OF THE AUTHOR AND DO NOT, IN ANY WAY, REFLECT THE OPINIONS OF THE MEMBERS ASSOCIATED WITH THIS ORGANISATION. THEY ARE NOT INTENDED TO MALIGN ANY GROUP, ORGANISATION, COMPANY OR RELIGION.