Treated 'worse than animals': thousands of Indian women feared trapped in ashrams

[Yossarian]

Treated 'worse than animals': thousands of Indian women feared trapped in ashrams

Nearly 250 women and 48 girls so far found confined behind gates in properties belonging to the Adhyatmik Vishwa Vidyalaya religious organisation


Neither the din of traffic nor the roar of aircraft from a nearby airport could blot out the screams neighbours say they regularly heard from the apartment building in west Delhi.

On Saturday, on the second floor of the unassuming complex in Mohan Garden, authorities discovered 21 women and children living in a heavily fortified “spiritual university”, at least five believed to be minors.

Raids across India in the past week on properties linked to the same religious organisation, Adhyatmik Vishwa Vidyalaya (AVV), have unearthed nearly 250 women and 48 girls apparently confined behind layers of locked gates.

Authorities in Delhi say they fear thousands more women could be living in similar conditions in the 300 properties estimated to be linked to the group nationwide.

Syringes and medicines were found scattered throughout the Delhi ashrams and many of the residents appeared to be drugged, according to Swati Maliwal, the city commissioner for women, who participated in five of the raids.

Most of the women have refused opportunities to leave the ashrams. Those who appear to be under 18 have been taken to shelters but are providing little concrete information, Maliwal said.

“We ask where they’re from, they can’t say. We ask them the address of their parents, they don’t have that. We ask how long they’ve been there, they give evasive answers,” she said.

Gurus are enlightening guides in the lives of many Indians, providing counselling on issues ranging from moral quandaries to the choice of a new car.

But months after a flamboyant guru, Ram Rahim Singh, was convicted of raping two followers – sparking riots that killed 30 people – the raids of the past week have cast light on the immense, often unchecked power wielded by some spiritual leaders.

At the centre of the organisation is a self-styled “godman”, Virendra Dev Dixit, with a chequered history including allegations of sexual assault dating to 1998. He is currently being sought by police and could not be reached for comment.

Accusations contained in documents filed with the Delhi high court allege that Dixit, 75, is portrayed by ashram workers as an incarnation of the Hindu god Krishna, with the women and girls cast as his gopis, or wives.

continue reading: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...men-feared-trapped-adhyatmik-vishwa-vidyalaya

Virtually every religion is infested with these gurus, reverands, bishops and maulvis who exploit the vulnerable, control their lives and treat them like slaves.. And it's not just confined to Hinduism and cases like these.

Gurus are enlightening guides in the lives of many Indians, providing counselling on issues ranging from moral quandaries to the choice of a new car.

Even some of the educated desis in the West are not immune to the manipulations of the religious preachers.

There was (still is?) a tv ad running in the USA where a car saleman is running all over town looking for a fresh coconut that the guru needs to smash in order to complete the car buying ceremony (in the car dealers showroom) before the (obviously educated and well-off) Indian family can complete their new car purchase.

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

What I take from this is that India is still a third world country where superstition is rampant, and education is not available to the masses. But I accept that I may be wrong, and that these spiritual retreats are beyond our understanding in the west. Maybe Indians view these retreats differently from us and they see it as something which is part of their culture and not necessarily a bad thing. I don't know.

 

[troodon]

This should be combined with the mega thread about millions of Indians believing in ordinary people as gods.

Not surprised. Fake preachers are there in thousands in India. Every village has them. Every city has them.

Poverty, misery, disease force people to take the guidance of these fake preachers.

 

[Yossarian]

This should be combined with the mega thread about millions of Indians believing in ordinary people as gods.

Not surprised. Fake preachers are there in thousands in India. Every village has them. Every city has them.

Poverty, misery, disease force people to take the guidance of these fake preachers.

Sad to say, not just in India. Same is true in Pakistan, and even in the West. Sub-continental Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs are also taking these practices with them to the West.

As for Christianity and the West, read about the 39 followers of Heaven's Gate committing mass suicide in Rancho Santa Fe believing their souls would be transported to a spaceship trailing the Hale-Bopp comet.

And worst of all, Jonestown

Jonestown, Guyana was the scene of one of the most harrowing tragedies in American history. On November 18, 1978, at the direction of charismatic cult leader Jim Jones, 909 members of the People’s Temple died, all but two from apparent cyanide poisoning, in a “revolutionary suicide.” They included over 200 murdered children. The poisonings in Jonestown followed the murder of five others, including Congressman Leo Ryan, by Temple members at the nearby Port Kaituma airstrip. It was the largest mass suicide in modern history and resulted in the largest single loss of American civilian life in a non-natural disaster until September 11, 2001.

Jones had established the Peoples Temple, a Christian sect, in Indianapolis in the 1950s, preaching against racism, and attracting many African Americans. After moving to San Francisco in 1971, his church was increasingly accused of financial fraud, physical abuse of its members and mistreatment of children. The paranoid Jones then moved his Temple to Guyana, to build a socialist utopia at Jonestown. A group of former Temple members and concerned relatives of current members convinced Congressman Ryan to investigate the settlement in person.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/adst/the-jonestown-massacre_b_8592338.html