you gotta read about this insanity going on these days........ :-)

[Guest guest]

Will some one tell his freakin Jupiter is debilitated and that he does not

have a single planet in Pushya (but I guess Moon in Taurus makes him very

bharismatic)? Hell, he does not look like he can get up on his own, let

alone participate in a battle like a soldier....:-)

[me]

Who are you talking about here? <grin>

Renee

[Guest guest]

this is insane, but i like these things as they keep me enterntained:-)

 

Will some one tell his freakin Jupiter is debilitated and that he does not

have a single planet in Pushya (but I guess Moon in Taurus makes him very

bharismatic)? Hell, he does not look like he can get up on his own, let

alone participate in a battle like a soldier....:-)

 

 

 

 

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CURRENT ISSUE JUNE 17, 2002

 

RELIGION: THE KALKI CONTROVERSY

Cult in Crisis

He advocates materialism, performs "miracles" and lives in luxury. But as

devotees line up for a rare darshan, Kalki Bhagwan encounters a spate of

accusations.

By Arun Ram

He sits in an air-conditioned room at Nemam ashram in Tamil Nadu's Thiruvallur

district, a white-clad godman sprawled on a blue velvet throne, a zari

angavastram draped around his shoulders. An acharya, one of four long-time

disciples, dressed also in virginal white, sits at his feet, offering him water

whenever he coughs or clears his throat. A Mercedes Benz waits outside, ready to

ferry him away from curious eyes, as dasas (monks) mill around talking

discreetly into Nokia cell phones.

DIVINE TUG: Devotees converging from all over India pine for a single darshan

of Kalki Bhagwan; (top) Vijayakumar and his wife

IN THE DOCK

1 Varadaiahpalem villagers say V. Vijayakumar and R. Shankar have floated over

10 trusts in the name of rural development and have sought tax exemption, but no

house or hospital has been built.

2 Viswanath Swami says the cult has become a family affair, with the godman

helping his son's business with public donations amounting to crores of rupees.

The family owns 40 cars and eight establishments.

3 Critics say the godman is fooling people with "miracles" that range from

curing cancer to making honey ooze and bananas fall out of his photos. He has

also recruited and trained dasas for this purpose.

4 A former devotee and Tamil writer, Indumathi, says the Kalki cult exerts

pressure on devotees to recruit prominent people as members, perhaps, to

acquire respectability for the group.

At 53, V. Vijayakumar looks most unlike the tenth avatar of Vishnu-Kalki-that he

is purported to be. His swooning devotees, however, reel off his mystical powers

with rare conviction: he can cure cancer with "spiritual" surgery, make honey

ooze and bananas fall off his portraits, even bring the dead back to life. The

last bit may stretch credulity but when it comes to homilies it's hard to

dismiss the guru's hold on the consumerist pulse: don't shun worldly pleasures,

he preaches, seek ultimate happiness. And how does one identify the obstacles to

supreme bliss? By undertaking a Kalki course-Rs 500 for a three-day beginner

programme and Rs 2,500 for a seven-day course. The wisdom bestowed: pragmatic

materialism.

"If you ask me whether you will own an Opel Astra," says the vision-driven

prophet, "I will shut my eyes and try to see you in one. If I see the image,

I'll tell you that you will own it within a given period. If I don't see

anything, I will ask you to help the poor so that you can move closer to the

goal." He goes on to cite irrefutable evidence. "A man wanted to know if he

would marry an Aishwarya Rai lookalike. I saw him marrying someone who

resembled her. That's exactly what happened."

The display of omniscience is all pervading. Vijayakumar believes, for

instance, that the Kalki cult he heads will survive even though "organised

religions will die between 2005 and 2012" as his philosophy is inclusive. "You

can be a Christian and I will make you see Christ. You can be a Hindu and I can

make you see Rama. I am a spiritual supermarket," he says in fluent English.

UNGODLY SPAT

V. VIJAYAKUMAR

"I don't touch the donations, just pass them on to trusts over which I have no control."

"My son spends his own money to spread my dharma."

"I can function like God and end people's miseries."

VISWANATH SWAMI

"He has always been driven by the need for money."

"He is a scheming businessman who is helping his son's career with public money. "

"I challenge him to show even one miracle at a press meet."

Though he rarely gives darshans (about once in six months), it doesn't deter his

devotees who come from all over India and abroad. Some like 25-year-old Sujay

Krishna join as dasas. When he was 17, Krishna saw a golden ball of light

emanating from Vijayakumar and piercing his forehead-it was enough to make him

abandon his engineering course. Like a claimed six million others, Krishna

believes Vijayakumar is Kalki Bhagwan.

For Vijayakumar, this faith has translated into considerable wealth. He lives

in a two-storey house in Chennai's affluent Anna Nagar. The Kalki world

headquarters, Golden City, is being built at a cost of Rs 300 crore on a

41.5-acre plot at Varadaiahpalem in Andhra Pradesh. There's the Nemam ashram

where classes are held; the 86-acre Satyalok in Varadaiahpalem that has

thatched sheds for meditation and prayer; a 20-acre plot near the Golden City;

a 10-acre plot that houses his son's Cosmic Recording Studio and another 37

acres of land close by. In fact, the cult is increasingly becoming a family

affair. Not only has his wife V. Padmavathi attained a goddess-like stature

(she is called Bhagwati), even daughter-in-law Preetha is promoting the cause

of "women enlightenment".

Kalki Bhagwan, of course, resolutely denies his proclivity for wealth. Not

surprisingly though, it has propped up zealous opponents like Viswanath Swami,

a self-proclaimed social activist who worked with Vijayakumar at a school in

Rajupeta in 1985. In April this year, Swami filed a complaint with the

Income-Tax Department in Chennai, alleging that Vijayakumar and his associate

R. Shankar have floated more than 10 trusts for rural development. They also

obtained tax exemption for funds collected by these trusts, but didn't use the

money for the stated purpose. In a separate case, the department has asked

Vijayakumar to pay Rs 60 lakh as tax.

The last time the Kalki cult hit the headlines was in 1997, when Chennai

resident D. Gopalan filed a habeas corpus petition in the Madras High Court. He

demanded that Kalki Bhagwan be produced in the court as he was being held

captive by Shankar and his associates. But after the devotees intervened,

Vijayakumar slipped back into Satyalok and the petition was dismissed. Now, he

seems ready to face the public again.

Born to S. Varadarajulu Naidu and V. Vaidarbhi on March 7, 1949, Vijayakumar

transcended quickly from a clerk with the Life Insurance Corporation in 1971 to

"godhood" in 1989. Aiding this transformation was schoolmate Shankar who

returned from Germany after post-doctoral research in 1982 to take over as

principal of the J. Krishnamurthy Foundation-run Valley School in Bangalore. He

soon invited Vijayakumar to help with administration work. "He was my mentor,

friend and philosopher," says Shankar.

When the Krishnamurthy Foundation expelled the two in 1984 for undisclosed

reasons, they opened Jeevashram, a residential school. This put Vijayakumar on

the road to godhood. Reports appeared of him figuring in "the dreams of his

students and their parents as Vishnu's avatar". By 1989, he was "bhagwan" and

within seven years, the cult had acquired a big following.

"When one in every 100,000 people is enlightened, the world will become a happy

place to live in," says Vijayakumar. He claims to have enlightened 400 of his

Indian devotees and says he has another one million foreign devotees. They

attend functions that the cult organises in countries like Japan, Dubai and

Russia.

For every ardent devotee, however, there is an irate resident of Varadaiahpalem

who says the cult has purchased more than a thousand acres in the names of

various trusts. Vijayakumar says he is not a member of any trust though he gets

big donations. "People are willing to donate a crore of rupees, but I pass it on

to the trusts," he says. "I'm being asked to pay Rs 60 lakh as income tax but

where do I go for that kind of money? I will not pay them. I'll fight them in

the court."

A court battle may not be easy. Villagers from Satyalok and Golden City have

signed affidavits stating Kalki Bhagwan has done nothing for their betterment.

Says Madhusudan Reddy, sarpanch of Batlavallam village near Golden City: "They

promised us housing, hospitals and schools. Not a single promise has been

fulfilled."

Swami, who has taken up cudgels on behalf of the villagers, says, "I met

Vijayakumar after 11 years last year. He may have a new name, but hasn't

changed at all. He is a scheming businessman who is boosting his son's business

with public money." Vijayakumar refutes the charge. "My son spends his own money

to spread my dharma."

This dharma is being propagated with much fervour. Scores of men and women have

joined as dasas and conduct classes for devotees. Respectability, however,

eludes the cult perhaps because of requests to devotees to scout for new

members. Tamil writer Indumathi says, "I stopped going when they pressured me

to recruit prominent people. I know filmstar Rajnikanth's wife, so they asked

me to get him."

There is, of course, the debate over "miracles". Though the godman insists

rationalist H. Narasimhaiah saw honey flowing from his picture, Narasimhaiah

scoffs at the claim. "I haven't seen any such miracle. Let him prove it."

Vijayakumar is unruffled though. "I believe I can function like God and rid

people of their miseries." Perhaps he should begin by using his magical prowess

to rid himself of the controversies surrounding him.

 

 

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[Guest guest]

Hi There

 

you

<<Will some one tell his freakin Jupiter is debilitated and that he does not

have a single planet in Pushya (but I guess Moon in Taurus makes him very

bharismatic)? Hell, he does not look like he can get up on his own, let alone

participate in a battle like a soldier....:-) >>

 

me

I did see your email but because it had an attachment i did erased just in case

of having a bug in it. I do not open attachments at all, in case thatbthe devil

is loose.

 

Well what to say, i have Jupiter debilitated and Moon in Taurus, but perhaps my

sun in Pushya makes me a fighter.

 

Although at present i feel like if i had 3 rounds with Tyson, i still can give a

hell of a fight with my enemies.

 

Best wishes

Natabara Das

[Guest guest]

It is a man who claims to be the 10th incarnation of vishnu. And it's not

just any quack, he has a large following though, and (more importantly)

serious money in donations (in fact, he even has a case registered against

him for income tax fraud). Obviously, he is anything unlike what lord

vishnu would like to body himself as, but still, considering india's most

read newsweekly does a feature on him, i thought it would form an amusing

reading for all of you.

 

So take a look at the attachment that accompanied my email (don't worry,

simple html docs cannot destroy your computer thru virii:-)

 

--- LaRAZZZA wrote: > In a message dated 6/9/02 10:00:49 AM

Pacific Daylight Time,

> indigenius writes:

>

>

> > Will some one tell his freakin Jupiter is debilitated and that he does

> not

> > have a single planet in Pushya (but I guess Moon in Taurus makes him

> very

> > bharismatic)? Hell, he does not look like he can get up on his own,

> let

> > alone participate in a battle like a soldier....:-)

> >

>

> [me]

> Who are you talking about here? <grin>

>

> Renee

>

 

 

 

Everything you'll ever need on one web page

from News and Sport to Email and Music Charts

http://uk.my.

[Guest guest]

Dear Siddhartha

 

you

<<It is a man who claims to be the 10th incarnation of Vishnu. And it's not

just any quack, he has a large following though, and (more importantly)

serious money in donations (in fact, he even has a case registered against

him for income tax fraud). Obviously, he is anything unlike what lord

Vishnu would like to body himself as, but still, considering India's most

read newsweekly does a feature on him, i thought it would form an amusing

reading for all of you.>>

me

Any son of mother can claim anything in our days to impress ignorant people.

 

The Vedas give a fair description about how to recognize a fake from a real

spiritual person.

 

We should study the Vedas, otherwise we are prone to be misled by crooks.

 

Simple religion is only fanaticism and simple science is just a mental

speculation, or so my Vaisnava teachers told me.

 

Bhaktivinode Thakura, a great spiritual master in our Vaisnava School of the

19-century, was born in India and he was a magistrate for the British in

India. One day Bhaktivinode, sent to jail a guy that was pretending to be

Vishnu. That guy went to jail accused by Bhaktivinode of false

impersonation.

 

Best wishes

Natabara Das