Controversies involving godmen have raised some basic questions. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and Shiv Visvanathan analyse the issue for DNA.
Spiritual gurus can marry if they want to
In Hindu thought, the four ashramas are brahmacharya, grihasta, vanaprastha and sanyas. Though sanyas ashram comes last, there is a provision to allow mature people to go directly from brahmacharya ashram to sanyas ashram. The maturity comes from memory of past life and sadhana (mediation) in the present life.
Celibacy is more or less a happening than a vow. When ones prana rises up from the base chakra to higher chakras, the body becomes insignificant, hence the interest in sex is reduced to nothing.
Proponents of only three religions in the entire world — Hinduism, Buddhism and Catholics — practise celibacy as a religious vow. Among the three, Hinduism is much more liberal. There are swamis who are also grihastas (householders) like Ramakrishna Paramhans, Sriram Sharma of Gayatri Parivar and many others. So, spiritual leadership does not entirely lie only on sanyasis but also householders.
Though there have been cases where sanyasis got married and became householders, such decisions have not been appreciated by the society.
Sant Dnyandev’s father was a sanyasi who got married late in life. Society branded him an outcast. Dnyandev and his brothers and sister underwent a lot of hardships. Times have changed now and there is not as much stigma involved in such cases. Honesty, sincerity and simplicity are the fundamentals of a religion.
According to me, it will be difficult if you are not a yogi, to live in the world and still be a celibate. The pleasure one gets in deep meditation and samadhi is quantified as 1,000 times that of carnal pleasure. So naturally, the buddhas, the siddhas, sadgurus or sanyasis don’t feel the need for carnal pleasures.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Fake gurus should be thoroughly exposed
There is a great idea of the renouncer, who renounces the everydayness of life. This is in contrast to the policy of the king, who embraces life and everyday politics. The renouncer gives up everydayness, he gives up the materialness of everyday life, and these include marriage and sex.
People respect brahmacharis and respect the idea of self-denial. It is not a question of a Catholic priest (who cannot marry) as opposed to a Protestant priest (who can marry) but a far deeper philosophical question of detachment from life.
The renouncer is a most respected figure in Hindu and Buddhist philosophy.
Nothing in the renouncer is lost by the scandals of various godmen and women that keep appearing in the media. The spirituality of the renouncer is not affected by the deeds of the godmen. The rise of the godmen is a recent phenomenon due to the rise of the middle-class and the lower middle-class.
Renouncers of the past were great figures such as Sai Baba (of Shirdi) and Raman Maharishi. The Dalai Lama is a present-day renouncer. These men are respected across cultures and religions and are considered the greatest spiritual leaders of our times. Do not confuse them with the godmen who keep appearing in the news.
Every time the media exposes a scandal involving a godman, which is a laudable act by itself, we think religion is in trouble. But that is not the case. The very fact that society keeps exposing such godmen actually allows us to continue respecting great spiritual leaders, who are men of integrity. We shouldn’t get over-excited by the exposés on godmen, which is really a case of applying the rule of law.
Shiv Visvanathan
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