NEW DELHI: Asaram clearly had trouble following his own advice. The self-styled godman and
now convicted rapist
+ gave several sermons warning followers against the perils of lust.
He often equated "vaasna" (sexual desire) with spiritual decline. Remember the billboards renaming Valentine’s Day as ‘matri-pitri pujan diwas’ (a day to worship parents) that were plastered across metro stations in Delhi in 2014? Those were the handiwork of his disciples.
TOI has dug out some other ‘pearls of wisdom’ from Asaram’s videos and website:
* In a sermon, he likened a person who succumbs to desire to an animal. “Ek bakra ek din mein 40 bakriyon ke saath muh kaala kar sakta hai (A male goat can have sex with 40 female goats in a day.)"
Rape survivor's father welcomes Asaram's conviction
The survivor, who was a Class 12 student at Asaram Bapu's Chhindwara Ashram in Madhya Pradesh, was raped in August 2013. Following complaints about her sickness while in Chhindwara, the godman had summoned the girl and her family to his ashram in Manai village on the outskirts of Jodhpur in Rajasthan.
* While expressing his concern over misguided youth, he says that young people barely reach puberty when they start handing out roses (on V-Day.) "Yauvan ka raas nichod ke neeche ki naali se nikal jaata hai (The youth lose their innocence in the pursuit of lust)"
His advice to get rid of lustful thoughts was to chant "om shanti", stick one’s tongue to the roof of the mouth, meditate, do pranayama and turn thoughts towards god. The instructions, he says, are to be followed before going to bed, and first thing in the morning.
* After the Nirbhaya gang rape case in 2012, he sparked a furore by saying at a discourse that the victim was equally responsible.
“Agar us kanya ne Saraswati mantra liya hota ... toh boyfriend ke saath picture dekh kar jis kisi bus mein ghusti nahin. Agar ghus bhi gayi ... toh 6 sharabi the.. Bhagwan ka naam leti aur ek ka haath pakadti 'Tere ko toh mafi maangti hoon.' Do ko bolti 'Bhaiya! Main abla hoon. Tum mere bhai ho' ... pair pakadti ... itna durachar nahi hota. Galti ek taraf se nahi hoti.". (Had she chanted the Saraswati mantra, she would not have boarded any random bus after watching a movie with her boyfriend. Even if she did, she should have taken god’s name and asked for mercy. She should have called them brothers, fallen at their feet and pleaded for mercy).
