Update: Shortly after Nithyananda's sex scandal broke, commenter to this blog, 'Swamiji is God (SIG)' realized and admitted that Paramahamsa Nithyananda was no Paramahamsa. 'Swamiji is God' wrote us a nice post and admitted that we were right, and thanked us for our efforts in exposing the fraud of Nithyananda and his cult. 'Swamiji is God', like many of us, is a sincere seeker who got taken in by Nithyananda. This is our story too. So, we're glad to have helped. We are leaving this post and 'Swamiji is God's comments up as an archive to help others see and realize the Truth. We hope that 'Swamiji is God' is able to carrying on his/her spiritual journey and has not suffered too much emotional and spiritual damage from Nithyananda's fraud.
Communication with 'Swami' Nithyananda's Other Side
Om Namah Shivaya. We had some thoughtful comments from a user named 'Swamiji is God'. Instead of just posting these as a side note, we decided to dedicate a post just these comments. Therefore, all of the comments can be relevant to this post. Here are the comments:
Saturday, January 23, 2010 5:53 AMAnd another post followed that:
Swamiji is God said...
Nithyanandam, the objective of your blog is to educate all about the wrongdoings and lies of Swamiji and his organization, correct ? This is to help people inside to realize that they are following a "fake" Swami and should immediately withdraw from all his associated activities, correct ? I am a devotee of Swamiji, please can you answer these simple questions logically ? 1. If he was really in RK mission, and not a divine person, how did he end up in Bidadi(from Near Erode) of all places in India and that too with the land being donated for free with a Huge Banyan tree in its premises. 2. How did Sec Ayya get cured from Cancer just by a touch from Swamiiji. I am from Tamil Nadu and I know people who knew Ayya before he met Swamiiji and they told me he had cancer and was on the death bed etc.. and that they did not know he was alive until I told them about Swamiji, they had come for Kalpataru and were shocked to see Secretary Ayya not only alive and well but also driving Swamiji's car. They knew ayya from a previous organization and they told me ayya was too weak and sick to even drive a car 11 years back and now he looks so energetic like a youth. How can you explain this if Swamiji was not divine?
I understand lots of the statements on the dhyanapeetam site/ books might be 'exaggerated', but not all are lies. You have like 10 falsified and exaggerated statements, whereas devotees have 100s of stories they can vouch for, like healing, miracles etc.. How do you justify this ? I am for open and honest discussion. There are probably 100 people max who have left/unhappy, and at least 2000-3000 people still connected to Swamiji and happy with the mission. Are you saying the majority are wrong about something which only the smart 100 or so have "Realized". Hopefully one of us is convinced that we are wrong. If you really do not have any animosity towards Swamiji, and you are really trying to get the truth out, then post this and justify the hundreds of people healed, thousands of people living blissfully. Just a few exaggerated statements does not nullify a 100 truths. I pray to Swamiji that all of us attain, experience and radiate 'nithyananda' - Eternal Bliss.
Monday, January 25, 2010 8:40 AMAnd, our reply:
Swamiji is God said...
Answer to Anon above if my post is approved ! I agree I am a devotee of Swamiji and I also agree with lot of points on this website. I have even seen the personal side of Swamiji. All the gold etc. is only a front, he is actually very modest in private ! He eats only in steel plates(even refusing to eat in a silver plate in a devotee's house), sleeps in modest accommodations etc. But what I have realized is that Spiritual Masters, no matter how chaste they are, or how careful they are, they are always criticized because of their actions. Let me quote a few examples, Yogi Ramsurat Kumar, a well known saint in Tiruvannamalai once threw a stone at a devotee when that person came to him with a problem and asked him for a solution, that person's wish was fulfilled ! Internet/ blogging was not so popular then otherwise he would have been labelled a mad man and there would have been a blog like this attacking him. Buddha had 6 of his very close first disciples leave because they thought he could not deliver to them the ultimate truth. Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was thought of having some psychological problems and hence his visions of kali. See each master had varying levels of difficulty dealing with society, but when all is said and done they are revered and worshipped and they have long gone by and their ideals have been polished for society, but a big BUT, when they were in the body, they always faced criticism and hardships from society. Jesus was crucified, Osho was poisoned etc.. So what I want to conclude is that we in our plane of consciousness and thinking, we can never judge an Avatara Purusha's or an Enlightened one's actions based on our understanding. And one more thing with Swamiji is with the advances in technology enabling faster transmission of data, every small discretion is glorified and spread faster than fire. To conclude all I want to say is Buddha was criticized by few when his disciples started leaving him thinking he was fake, but in the grand scheme of things say like thousands of years later, the people who connected with him, benefitted and got enlightened, but the people who criticized, history never remembered them, but Buddha still lives on. So in our story in the grand scheme of things, in a large portrait that is the size of maybe the whole world, Existence will exist through the human form through masters like Buddha, Krishna, Jesus, Mohammad, Nithyananda, Ramakrishna, Vivekananda, Ramana etc.. and all the people who criticized or spoke ill will not even be the size of a pizel on that huge canvas. Those who catch the master will become one with it !!!!!
Thanks, so much, 'Swamiji is God' for taking the time to write thoughtful questions, which we'll be glad to try to give a thoughtful reply too. We are not looking at this as a 'debate' where there will be a winner or not, but we're looking at this as a way that we can exchange our views in hopes of getting a better understanding.
Yes, you understood most of our objectives. All of the contributors to this blog have had extensive experience with 'Paramahamsa' Nithyananda. Some of our contributors were even in that first batch of mass 'enlightenment' that occurred in Los Angeles, June, 2007. We have found that Swami Nithyananda really is not what he seems. We would like to let others, who are new to Nithyananda, know our experience so they can make a more informed decision whether to follow him or not. And, as you mentioned, we would also like those who are already very involved with Nithyananda and his mission reevaluate their commitment and see if they really want to continue down this path. We also have a wish (but realize that it is just a wish) that Sri Nithyananda will reform his Mission and emphasize compassion to Divinity without tearing apart families and stop all the other well documented grievances that we have written about.
"Swamiji is God", we are going to skip the order of your posts. Hope that's OK. You wrote that you acknowledged that some of the Nithyananda's (biography) stories might be exaggerated and that we might have written material that was either exaggerated or not truthful. Actually, this is key to us. We did not exaggerate any of our findings. You mentioned that we had at least ten (10) "falsified and exaggerated statements". Please let us know specifically which of our statements are in question. We will be glad to address those. To the best of our knowledge, everything on our site is true. We have even removed some posts that our sources were not able to verify to our satisfaction. So, just let us know, and please be specific. We'll be glad to discuss. We will admit that we have written our posts in a very bantering way. To be honest with you, that is to both humor and heal us. Our experiencing has been painful, and we rather poke fun at it rather than get real serious about it. Based on our feedback, we know that we have a lot of loyal readers who just love our humor (they must have had problems too :-). We also know that many current insiders are not going to appreciate our humor at all, (although this might be useful for churning purposes). We know firsthand, that no one, who is deeply committed with Sri Nithyananda and his Mission, will leave smiling. Before anyone leaves, there will be some energy and lots of 'churning'. We also want to use humor as a means of showing Sri Nithyananda is just human after all. He is not a God. So rather than pound on the cap keys, we use wit, smart alec, bantering, and a lot of Truth. Those are our weapons. We also have plans to post another site that quickly outlines our key points in this blog with bullet like succinctness and without the humor. Don't worry, loyal readers, we'll be back with our usual banter in future posts.
Speaking of the Truth, we really wanted to show that Sri Nithyananda has projected an image much greater than he is or even much different than he is. So, by exposing the Truths of the inconsistencies and downright fabrications of his biography, to at least us, prove that Sri Nithyananda is not an avatar waiting to liberate us all. These lapses and creative stories seemed to be done to self-promote himself. Is this the behavior of an enlightened master? We say not at all. If someone lied on their resume, would they still be able to keep their job even if they were competent? Usually not. The Truth is the foundation in which everything else spiritually and sattvic (pure) is based on. If that foundation is wobbly and sinking into missing gaps, then anything built on top of that foundation is going to be distorted, leaning, and not inhabitable. That is exactly the case we see with Sri Nithyananda. At this point, any story that he gives without verification could be questioned as being just another story. This includes his ability to give 'enlightenment'.
We recognize that there will be those who believe in the personality of a charismatic leader and the promise of some brighter future over the Truth. Although we admire the faith of such people, we recognize that this is a very dangerous path and has led to the ruin of many individuals and nations. So, we use Truth as the corner stone of our foundation. We are bent to get to it, and then expose it. If people still want to allow their emotions to overwrite their logic derived from Truth, God bless them.
We are not impressed by the numbers game. A whole nation was once mesmerized and willingly followed Adolph Hitler. Did that make them right? Try saying that to the seven million Jews, Gypsies, and homosexuals that were systematically killed. The United States Constitution is based on protecting the rights of the minority from being trampled by the majority. Conversely, we could use the same logic to say that out of total population of spiritual people, only a few thousand are aligned with Sri Nithyananda and the Life Bliss Foundation. Just the same, we would want your rights to also be protected from a 'majority rule'.
We are glad to hear that you consider a lot of people inside Nithyananda's Order to be happy. We hope that they are happy for the right reasons. We have seen what happens when people carry false certificates of 'enlightenment' that are not valid any where else, give up their sense of identity and family for a life where there responsibilities are lifted, but still they do not feel 'light'. This is what we call living in self-denial or in La-La Land.
Yet, it is not our job to check up or even question the ashramites' happiness. We just want to make sure that those insiders are aware of the process going around them and to examine exactly why they are happy. And to the people who are interested in living in the ashram, is this happiness worth breaking up your family, possibly divorcing your spouse, ending your career, drastically reducing contact with your parents, brothers, and sisters, giving up your identity, mortgaging your children's college fund or even your retirement? At least, we would like people to enter the ashram knowing what may happen to them, and what has happened to others before they join. This is much better than later regretting what happened after it is too late.
In the same way, the cult followers of Reverend Jim Jones of the infamous Jonestown all seemed happy right up to the very end. Reports were given that mothers happily fed their babies cyanide and watched as the babies foamed up the content from their mouths; these mothers then happily swallowed the poison. Reverend Jim Jones' followers really thought that they will all be heading toward salvation or 'enlightenment'. We do not believe that Sri Nithyananda has any wild dreams about doing something that horrendous, but our point is that the foundation for doing something like that is there. The same sort of mindset seems of "Swami will take care" seems to be well in place. Any body who expresses doubt or questions the word of the master is quickly told to drop it. We have seen firsthand followers surrender their identities, thoughts, actions, etc. completely to Sri Nithyananda. Our message is Be Careful!, and constantly check your internal compass for anything that might be amiss. You (who are over 18) are responsible for you. No one else is. 'Feeling happy' and 'doing the right thing' do not always go 'hand in hand'.
In your second post, you mention about how Sri Nithyananda is modest in private. It is our experience that he can be modest, but often these home visits are to 'seal the deal'. We have also seen the private side of Sri Nithyananda. We've witnessed yelling, violence (but only in India, because he's afraid of lawsuits in North America), and extravagance. We seen him make decisions to fly business class why sending his personal assistant to fly coach, order the most expensive cell phone with the most gadgets (Sri Nithyananda's direct criteria in ordering a phone), staying in posh hotels and not in devotees homes, demanding to be driven in 'regal' SUVs, not simple economy cars, hiring bodyguards, etc. Even in his public life, having such elaborate customs and an unnatural love for gold, which includes several gold thrones, is a little hard for us to say 'modest' and 'simple'. Yes, Sri Nithyananda can be quite charming, simple, and likable when he wants to be. Unfortunately, we have seen a big difference between his 'public' side and his 'private' side that this consistent difference cannot be accounted for by just a bad day.
Yes, we agree with you, 'Samiji is God', that all True Masters certainly had parts of the personalities that would seem as quirks. We really are not interest in those aspects or other one-off incidents such as the one you mentioned about Yogi Ramsurat Kumar. We are looking at 'across-the-board' consistent actions from our personal experiences that lead us to believe that Sri Nithyananda is not the Divine Saint he markets himself to be. We will admit that he is a brilliant orator, an outstanding lecturer, and teacher. We could even say that he might be enlightened on the intellectual plain, but unfortunately, lacks common sense to even make up a consistent time line story. Sorry to say, Sri Nithyananda does not seem enlightened to us in the most important aspect of compassion. He really does not seem to have feelings towards those around him. It is all about him! When his followers become 'hurt', it is because they either did something wrong or 'Swami is working on them.' In this way, you compared Sri Nithyananda to Jesus, Buddha, Paramahamsa Ramamkrishna, Lord Krishna, Mohammad, Swami Vivekananda, Sri Ramana Maharshi, and Osho (Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh). We only believe that Sri Nithyananda is on par with Osho. Osho, as you recall, was a gifted speaker who had a huge following. Osho loved material object such as Rolls Royces, had ulterior political motives, and expressed zero compassion to his followers. He left a legacy of confusion and lost lives. By the way, Osho's health was always very poor, and we do not believe he was poisoned by George Bush Sr. and the CIA as his followers would like people to believe. As with Osho, Sri Nithyananda lacks the compassion that true masters have.
Speaking of criticism, we have heard firsthand many times about how 'Swamiji' Nithyananda gave scathing attacks on several masters. Sri Nithyananda had criticized and/or belittled Paramahamsa Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda, the whole Ramakrishna Mission and Vedanta Society, Mata Amritanandamayi (Ammachi), Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev of the Isha Foundation, and others. (We'll save the details for future posts.) So, Sri Nithyananda really should check his own behavior first before criticizing those that have shined a Truthful light on him and his operations.
We are also happy to claim that we are not doing an anti-guru site. True Gurus who are committed to the Truth and do not have any inconsistencies from their public and private lives. True Gurus are dedicated to helping society without any personal gain; they are wonderful and rare folks. Yes, they are all around. Some have gotten famous and some are very low key. We give them all a free pass on this blog even if they have some controversies associated with them. We are only interested in exposing one person, who is not a True Guru (in our humble opinions), and that is Sri Nithyananda. That is the one guru who we are qualified to speak on due to our extensive direct experience with him.
Towards the end of the second posting, 'Swamiji is God' you questioned our motives of why we are criticizing Sri Nithyananda. Let us assure you, that we are not interested in fame. We have no plans on writing a novel, no fantasies of appearing on Oprah, (Oprah Winfrey is a famous TV talk-show in America) or dreams of marketing coffee mugs with our picture on them. We just want to get the Truth out so that others may know before they go. And, if we had this information available to us when we first met Sri Nithyananda, we might have made different decisions. So, we want to let people decide.
Yes, we agree. In this digital age, news travels quickly. We remember that 'Paramahamsa' Nithyananda made goals of the number of people that he wanted to 'enlightened' back in 2005. He set a big number which was over ten fold greater than the number of souls Buddha enlightened because he said that there was no 'buddha.com' back then. So, yes it goes both ways. If Sri Nithyananda kept to Truths and lived a Truthful life, blogs like these would never happen, and Sri Nithyananda's message would be broadcast across the internet without critique. (Or at least no one in our team would be doing what we are doing now.) So, yes, technology can distribute information quickly. Something can rise as fast as a rocket, but the gravity pull of Truth, thanks to technology, can bring it right down. Once again, please let us know what on our site you think are lies and exaggerations. We'll be glad to prove that these posts are True and that our pull of gravity is real.
'Swamiji is God', we'll now go back to your first post. You mentioned bout two of the 'miracles' that are often attributed to 'Paramahamsa' Nithyananda. The first one regards obtaining the property in Bidadi, and the second one regards the healing of 'Swami' Nithyananda's Secretary, Ayya, a.k.a. Sri Nithya Sadhananda Swami. We're very happy to know that Sri Ayya is alive, well, and healthy. Many of us have personally met him, and we know that he is hardworking, professional, and fully dedicated to 'Paramahamsa' Nithyananda's Mission. We are also happy to know that he creates wealth in society and employees many people who are able to have a livelihood based on his efforts. This employment has a wonderful knock-on effect, and spreads very wide especially in India. We only have goodwill toward Sri Ayya. The details about Ayya's healing experience are in question because we found so much of the other stories from Sri Nithyananda to be just that, stories. For the sake of this article, we'll assume on good faith that all of the stories concerning Ayya's healing are true. We will further attribute that healing not just to chance, but to 'Paramahamsa' Nithyananda's efforts, although we have well noted examples of when healing did not occur even though it was promised by Sri Nithyananda. Yes, 'Swami' Nithyananda's healing can happen, but it seems so inconsistent even when it has been promised. (See posts "Swami Nithyananda's Record at Healing Part I, Part II, and Part III, also of interest, Paramahamsa Nithyananda Turns Away Those In Need Out of Greed).
It would be very hard to claim on a physical level that the healing of someone's body is not a good thing. Once again, we're very glad the Ayya is amongst the living. On a spiritual level, we are not so certain if healing is always the best thing to occur, especially for the healer. It is our understanding that karmas must be transferred when 'spiritual' healing is taken on by another. We remember hearing 'Swami' Nithyananda time and time again saying that he heals 'safely' and that he is able to take the karmas and dispose of them properly. We sure hope that this is true. Otherwise, Sri Nithyananda will be suffering lifetime after lifetime (assuming when he gets a human birth again) of all of these karmas. Based on the exaggerations of Sri Nithyananda's biography, his own fallacies, such as having his U.S. Tourist Visa cancelled, his Bay Area Temple shut down for six months, etc., we really doubt that he has the capacity to 'dispose' of these karmas correctly. We also seen a deep desire from 'Swami' Nithyananda to look as 'divine' as possible, so dealing with the messy aftereffects of karmas from healing might be just an afterthought to him. So, we do pray that Sri Nithyananda is not collecting karmas during these healings, and that everyone will be fine. And, yes, anyone who feels that they have been healed by 'Paramahamsa' Nithyananda, we are glad that you are well and amongst the living.
The source of 'Paramahamsa' Nithyananda's energy is a delicate subject indeed. We know that Sri Nithyananda goes to great lengths to appear to be a very holy man erecting very large and grandiose temples with 'biggest Venkateshwara in North America', etc. As we said in earlier posts, we feel that this is a facade. As far as we can tell, the source of Sri Nithyananda's energy seems to be from dark tantric practices. In this field, someone cannot have Divine energy and still practice dark tantra. Someone can practice one, but not both energies. The reason we conclude that Sri Nithyananda's energy is of this dark source is from all of his stories of graveyards and ghosts. We have never seen a 'master' so enthusiastically embrace graveyard worship before. True Lord Shiva is everywhere including the cemetery. Lord Shiva is NOT exclusively in the cemetery.
Here are some of the statements on Nithyananda's own media that support this claim:
(When he was a teenager) Nithyananda would often meditate all night long in the cremation grounds of Tiruvannamalai absorbed in the vibrant silence of Arunachala, and at the break of dawn, he would return home.Sri Nithyananda would often lead tours late at night into the cemetery. In his own words:
(source: srianandeshwaratemple.dhyanapeetam.org
[under 'founder')
Some of the famous graveyards of the holy town of Tiruvannamalai were serene places of meditation for Nithyananda. A couple of years back, as we walked as a small group with the Master in the wee hours of the morning(that means very late at night, past midnight) in Tiruvannamalai, he took us to these graveyards and showed us the exact spots where he would sit and meditate.In our post, "Paramahamsa Nithyananda & Graveyard Enlightenment", we disclosed the technique in Nithyananda's "Living Enlightenment Program" where he took his followers, did a fire ritual in the graveyard, and had them run around chaotically? Is this some sort of 'soul matching'?
(Source: Nithyananda Vol. 1, first edition 2006, p. 105)
In another post titled, "Paramahamsa Nithyananda Spreads His Dark Tantric Bliss - This is NOT Lord Shiva" we mentioned one of the more bizarre occurrences that happened in an Acharya (teacher training) program. More recently, in June 2008, at the Vedic Temple in Montclair (Los Angeles) during an Acharya (teacher training) program conducted by Sri Nithya Medhananda Swami, a young male participant became 'possessed' and tried to kill himself by jumping over the balcony at the hotel. (We'll dedicate a separate post just on that.) In another post titled "Paramahamsa Nithyananda Performs a Red Hot Chili Ritual; Fire Away with Dark Tantric Magic!", we showed some of the more unusual things 'Swami' Nithyananda places in the fire ritual and explained some of the possibilities of why Sri Nithyananda was doing this.
The influences from Sri Nithyananda gives us yet some more clues of what kind of siddhis (esoteric power) Sri Nithyananda learned and how he used them.
Moreover, he (Nithyananda) didn't have to suffer at school! If Nithyananda had homework and complained to the Yogi (Raghupati Yogi), the teacher (at Sri Nithyananda's school) would fall sick the next day!And, yet another unsettling clue from Sri Nithyananda's upbringing:
(Source: Nithyananda Vol. 1, first edition 2006, p. 98)
Often when Nithyananda missed school, he would seek the help of Thatha to escape punishment from teachers. Thatha would make sure Nithyananda's attendance in school was marked.These are mildly disturbing and almost amusing stories of Nithyananda's childhood that define the 'science' of dark siddhis (esoteric powers) and its application that could be used in the future.
(Source: Nithyananda Vol. 1, first edition 2006, p. 108)
Now, it might seem like a 'miracle' that Sri Nithyananda was able to see the land in Bidadi from Erode and that someone just happened to want to 'donate' it to him. We see this as possibly a misuse of dark siddhis (esoteric power) that has been carefully cultivated from the graveyards. When these siddhis have been mastered, controlling the thoughts and even actions of others is possible.
Getting back to the source, we see all of Sri Nithyananda's powers along this line, for no Divine influence would want to co-exist with such dark power. The price for using this type of dark power is clearly mentioned in the Bhagavad Gita when Lord Krishna says:
Demigod-worshippers go to the demigods.We imagine that Sri Nithyananda's ability to heal also comes from this same dark source. Therefore, recipients of Sri Nithyananda's healing, indeed, might get negative consequences as a result. We just don't know, and there is no way that we could prove this. But, for anyone that gives late night tours and performs rituals for/to others in the graveyard, we cannot think that this is any holy act.
Ancestor-worshippers go to the ancestors.
Those who utilize ghosts, go to the ghosts.
And my devotees go to me (and are not born again).
(Bhagavad Gita: 9.25)
In summary, 'Swami is God' we realize that you are probably not going to agree with us on many (if at all) of these points. Regardless, we have our major reservations about the legitimacy of 'Paramahamsa' Nithyananda's claim to being 'enlightened'. We have discovered major holes in his biography that shake the essence of his ability to be even remotely be seen as truthful. We have witnessed followers (including our own actions in the past) who are more than willing to do unquestionably whatever Sri Nithyananda tells them to do. In case of any reservations, we've been told to "drop the mind, doubt, and the ego". Otherwise, it is our fault. We found Sri Nithyananda to be very ambitious indeed, and hence willing to legitimize his 'holy' claims at the expense of the wellbeing of others and even his own karma. We sincerely pray for him. Conclusively, Sri Nithyananda seems to be focused on graveyard spirituality with the mask of Vedic traditions. Although Ravana built great Shiva temples in Lanka, Lord Shiva, in the form of Hanuman, brought the whole city to flames. It might take some major fire to cleanse the negative influences from such a city. Finally, we have debunked the true and tried techniques that Sri Nithyananda uses to discredit us by saying that we seek fame and that we are out to badmouth all Masters, etc. From our findings, Swami Nithyananda has been the one that has badmouthed and belittled other enlightened masters and has deeply discredited Vedic traditions in a quest for his own power and fame.
In conclusion, we cannot help but think that Sri Nithyananda is leading others down the wrong path and that he is creating huge karma for himself and others that will take thousands of years to burn off. For the good of all, we really do want this to stop.
We hope that we at least addressed your questions, and we look forward to more dialog.
We welcome comments, but we would like everyone to be at their best behavior when posting on this page. Both pro and con sides, please think in terms of understanding and not in terms of contentious attacks. Thanks.
Jai Maa.
Follow your dharma. Use your common sense. Listen to your inner-conscience, and follow the Truth. Come out of this trap, and escape from this fake and fraudulent cult.
