India, in popular understanding, is the land of spirituality. The phenomenon of guru-ship in India supposedly has a historical aspect with a great diversity in nature and orientation. And, in today’s time, spiritual gurus have occupied the center stage in news and popular discourse because of a variety of reasons ranging from criminal affiliations and political patronage to child exploitation.
Modernity claimed the end of religion and its supplantation by scientific, rational thought and democratic values, but religion seems to have an adaptive tendency with new evolving strategies. The neoliberal guru and the tele-guru, who claim to espouse universalism and secularism but are actually fueled by revivalism, perfectly cater to the urban middle class. This class is anxious to integrate into the global economy while preserving its “cultural integrity” (Bose, 2009).
This specific type of guru gives a sense of agency and choice to their followers owing to the spirit of a “soft revolution” or a misunderstood subversion. There is an illusion of control, the follower feels empowered to pick and choose their scientific path to self-actualisation, which is more pristine and original than the idea of god itself; through a scant questioning of established norms and values, and yet retaining traditional tenets for a presumed authenticity. They simplify and justify religion under the guise of spirituality, using the language of modernity and science. This approach facilitates the production of marketable salvation goods and enables them to establish a virtual connection with their followers.
As McMahan suggests:
“Modernity, then, carries with it a nostalgia for the pre-modern and a hope that ancient traditions can help in re-enchanting the world, through, ironically, their own kind of ‘sciences’ and ‘technologies’ – those of the spirit” (McMahan, 2008).
Today the interface between the theological and the technological is more so than ever with new mobile applications that act as spiritual guides, gadgets specifically designed for disseminating teachings, and “disneyisation” of divinity (Copeman & Duggal, 2023) providing immersive simulations trough construction of hyper-real, amusement-park like ashrams at the banks of rivers with buildings shaped like lotuses, away from the hustle and bustle of the city.
Another important aspect of enticement lies in the presentation of the “total guru” who is an expert in all the fields. The most visual representation of this can be Dera Saccha Sauda’s (DSS’s) Gurmeet Ram Rahim and his films franchise MSG: The Messenger of God. When the end credits to his films roll out, Ram Rahim is the actor, script writer, music composer, director, art director, stunt performer, prop designer, make-up artist, singer, and 20 more things.
There is a general emphasis on the omnipotent nature of the guru, the knower of all languages, the player of all musical instruments etc. And the guru feeds into this narrative with broken performances and coy innocence. In the age of advanced capitalism and globalisation, characterised by super specialisation and alienation, the guru’s claim to divinity is rooted in their supposed omnipotence – the ability to do it all.
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There has been extensive research on the liberalisation of the broadcast sector and the diffusion of Hindu imageries through the telecast of Ramayana, and the birth of tele-gurus. The saturation of popular media constructs a Hindu normalcy and “Hinduness” as “Indianess” (Sriprakash & Possamai, n.d.). What remains unexplored is the undercurrent of common logic between Hindutva, neoliberalism and the spiritual guru organisations.
Most of the guru-run organisations now engage in some charitable and social service activity, mainly because the Indian government requires non-profit religious institutions to divest themselves of their income periodically if they are to retain their tax-exempt status. Spending on medical, educational and other charitable projects is a convenient means of achieving this, and has the added benefit of garnering favourable publicity (Pandya, 2016).
Gurus are active leaders in a variety of fields like medicine, politics, higher education, and judiciary courts etc. How are these social service activities carried out? According to Pandya, this is achieved through “seva (selfless service)”. These organisations employ a systematic and cyclical approach to imagination, wherein modernity is addressed, and its material problems, such as poverty, are linked to spirituality and egotism. Selfless service, or seva, is marketed as a tangible solution that enables one’s own spiritual growth and expansion from individual consciousness to universal consciousness. Ultimately, this seva, or acts of welfare, lends legitimacy to the movement.
The Advaita Vedanta philosophy of “Brahman” is used as a tool here through overuse of slogans like “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” making social reform pertinent to self-actualisation. There is an inherent irony in expansion of consciousness and finding the problem in one’s egotism/spirituality as opposed to one’s social position or identity.
Both Hindutva and neoliberal discourses reduce social processes to individual choices and decisions. For the former, society is shaped by the choices of Hindu morality, values and character; discourses which individualise actions and thereby hide social power relations (such as caste, class or gender). This resonates with neoliberal technologies (for instance, of “consumer choice”) that presume social behaviour as “voluntary transactions between rational, utility-maximising individuals” (Gopalakrishnan, 2006).
The construction of social processes as individual, autonomous human action means that problems or divisions in society are also seen to be addressed by attending to the self. This is the logic of seva. The universal or global (the Brahman), is conjured up at convenience and they paradoxically facilitate marginalization, ghettoization, xenophobic insecurity and intolerance.
According to Pandya, there is a governmentality of seva where the state harnesses the charisma of the guru and the devotion of the followers, their quest for seva in order to fulfill government’s developmental ends in a sacred public-private partnership (Pandya, 2015). Mata Amritanandamayi’s Amrita Vishva Vidyapeetham, a multi-campus “research university” and her 2018 felicitation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for making the largest contribution to the Union government‘s Swachh Bharat Mission, and Sadhgurus’s various entanglements in the field of welfare with UNICEF and UN partnerships like “community revitalisation programme for reviving rural culture and raising farmers’ incomes, all aimed at invigorating the spirit of rural India” (Conscious Planet, n.d.) can be examples of this.
Sri Sri Ravishankar’s The Art of Living is involved in many such welfare projects. It launched its “Project Pavitra” in 2019 to addresses menstrual health issues among adolescent girls and women between the age group of 11-45 years in rural areas and urban slums. “A growing team of 3000 plus dynamic women volunteer trainers of the Art of Living are spreading the knowledge of holistic and sustainable menstrual practices. The training includes the wisdom of Yoga and Ayurveda for the beneficiaries, enabling them to better experience their periods.” (Art of Living, n.d.).
In one of the “training of the trainers” session organised in Ahmedabad (conducted on June 2, 2019) the following absurdities were being taught: the use of kohl/makeup while on period can cause visual impairment to the future progeny, having long conversations while on period can cause discolouration of teeth and tongue in the future progeny, indulging into physically strenuous exercises while menstruating can leave the future progeny reckless/ rash and indecisive, listening to loud music while on period can make the potential future progeny deaf.
Even Modi wasn’t spared, and it was mentioned that in order to have a son like him, every woman must abide by the above-mentioned rules. The menstrual cycle was equated to a “cleansing process” rather than a physiological process with scientific explanation and things like “contamination of aura because of quantum physics and string theory” and a cocktail of complete distortion of scientifically proven facts was relished by a group of urban middle class women, eager to bring about social change.
There is also an emphasis on creation of world records. Ram Rahim’s DSS claims the records for the most blood pressure readings and diabetes screenings in a single day, the highest number of people sanitising their hands simultaneously. The latter is now taken as evidence that the DSS guru had foreknowledge of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although Ram Rahim caters to a different demography than the likes of Sadhguru and Ravi Shankar, his endeavours have been the most visual in recent times.
The Art of Living has enlisted 12 such records on its official website, some of them being the largest vegetarian buffet consisted of 5,612 different dishes in Ahmedabad in 2010, the most candles lit simultaneously at a single venue is 12,135 and was achieved on Diwali again in Ahmedabad in 2012, and 2013 “blowing for peace” record with the largest horn ensemble consisting of 444 musicians and was achieved in Kerala. These record-breaking spectacles of ‘service’ are inspired by, or achieved because of, the blessings of the guru. Many such events involve all-justifying seva activities, but others possess a more hallucinogenic, whimsical quality (Copeman & Duggal, 2023).
As Radhakrishnan in his analysis of religion under globalisation puts:
“The very idea of social service through the conduit of religion, that too primarily the majoritarian Hindu religion, in a secular and pluralist society, where religion is not expected to play any role in the public sphere, shows the failure of a democratic state to perform and deliver thereby creating a deepening paradox of enabling various self-styled ‘divinities’ and ‘god incarnates’ to use it to perform and deliver through make-believe spiritualism through the state, though the state is expected to be secular and pluralist in letter and spirit.”
The argument for these guru organisations as secular institutions is redundant here owing to its shared genealogy with the rise of Hindutva.
Today, the official website of the Art of Living claims to have impacted 2,00,000+ women with 7,000+ trainers. ISKCON’s intervention in the ICDS supplementary nutrition programme with restriction on distribution of eggs has also been in the news for similar reasons. All of this questions the role of civil society organisations and the potential to protest and reform being replaced.
Radhika Sabnis is a student of MA in Sociology at Savitribai Phule Pune University, Maharashtra.
