How can you save Sanatan Sanstha?

• ·         The first step in Sanatan Sanstha’s inoculation campaign is to identify gullible people like me. People who has a holier than thou approach towards themselves – like me. I was so full of myself, so taken up by my vision of the world and my exalted position in it. They start slow. The first step is to attract spiritual persons or people with a spiritual bend of mind. We attend satsangs and are told to pray for the well-being of the nation.
• ·         The second step is now to reinforce this bond. They concentrate on Hindu Dharma or Sanatan Dharma. The attacks on Hindus are highlighted. The situation in the country and the prosecution of Hindus are discussed. Followers are encouraged to speak about the atrocities. Their website is full of such articles. I remember once when riding my two-wheeler, I dashed against a person from another community and he abused me. I spoke about this in one of the satsangs and the other sadhaks treated this as an attacked on a poor Hindu woman. I also started believing this.
• ·         Sanatan Sanstha knows that the bond is still weak. They now concentrate on my mind. They talk about the guru and gurushisha parampara. The importance of guru for spiritual upliftment is stressed repeatedly. “Saints” now join in for the discourses. The header of the main page of the website shows an image of a discipline offering respects to his guru.
• ·         I am asked to do naamjap, the sanstha says that naamjap – taking the name of Gods is different from meditation. Naamjap yields results. I believe them. Today, I know that meditation and naamjap are same as per Hindu Shastra; as per Hindu Dhrama. Sanatan wants to differentiate itself and hence shows that both are different.
• ·         Stickers with Gods and Goddesses’ names are purchased by me. I stick them all around my home. I think of the sanstha all throughout the day. This leads to the first conflict with my husband. Broken Dreams and Broken Relationships. A crack is formed; waiting to be exploited.
• ·         My family, my home, my fort no longer appeal to me. I think Sanatan Sanstha, I dream about my Guru and all my actions are dictated by the sanstha.
• ·         The focus now shifts from attacks on Hindu Dharma to attacks on Sanatan Sanstha. I am asked to do naamjap at different times. Someone phones me and informs me that evil spirits will be attacking the sanstha at a particular time. I can save the sanstha through my bhakti. I have done naamjap several times during nights, waking up at 2 am, 3 am or even not sleeping throughout the night. I became so habituated that I used to get up at 4 a.m. to do naamjap for many years.

The sanstha has gained control of my mind. I am no longer thinking rationally. I am their slave. I am a sadhak. I belong to Santan Sanstha.

Lies lies and more lies

Broken Dreams and Broken Relationships

This is the start of the end. Lies lead to mistrust. Mistrust in the persons who love you the most. People who really care about you. Mistrust leads to broken dreams and broken relationships. This is the beginning of the end. Sanatan Sanstha knows this, understands this, and most of all wants this. There is nothing spiritual about this, nothing religious about this, there is no linkage between Sanatan Dharma or Hindu Dharma. It is all about mind control.

Human beings are social animals, right. They want the company of others, others who are like them, who think like them, who act like them. The social acceptance theory comes into play. I started seeking others like me. More importantly, I left those who were not like me. It started with my friend circle. I saw them as inferior beings, engaged in futile pursuits. I was a superior being. I lost contact with them, I broke contact with them. My closest friends, some of them so close that they knew all about me. I did not keep in touch.

I had a friend, she was facing a crisis in her life, I went to her and told her to embrace Sanatan Sanstha. She was shocked, her husband had just died and she was worried about making ends meet, and I was advising her to leave everything behind. I was so inconsiderate. Today, she is helping me to live again, helping me to come to terms with life and to start a new life. She did, she fought against odds, she took risks. She is my helping hand, my guiding star.

Lying is a sin:

All religions including Sanatan Dharma or Hindu Dharma teaches us that lying is a sin. Yudhishthira, the Dharmaraj, uttered just one lie in his lifetime and still he had to offer penance before he got an entry in the Heaven. He had performed innumerable good deeds and accumulated good karma. Yet Sanatan Sanstha directly or indirectly motivates its sadhaks to tell lies or to speak untruths. Spiritual upliftment should start with honesty and truthfulness, the sanstha on the face of it, shows that it does not support such misdemeanors. Then why does it motivate people to speak lies? It is not only about mind control. They tell people like me that whatever you do in the sanstha, it is acceptable if it is for the good of the sanstha. The guru; HH Dr. Jayant Athavale is there to protect you.

Nobody can share one’s sins. Remember the story about Maharishi Valmiki? Maharishi Valmiki was a notorious bandit, he used to rob innocent people of their wealth. Once a saint asked him the reason for such evil deeds. Valmiki replied that he robbed so that he could feed his family. The saint then asked him whether his sins would also be shared by his family? Valmiki decided to ask them and was very much surprised by the answer. His family out rightly rejected him and told him that they would not share his sins. He realized his mistake and changed his path and took to spiritual pursuits and became the great Maharishi Valmiki.

Lying is a sin, no matter what is the outcome. And yes, nobody can share your sins, you have to carry the burden yourself. Even Sanatan Sanstha cannot change this, this is as per Sanatan Dharma. 

Sanatan Sanstha is not Sanatan Dharma. It can never become one, it can never come close to the Eternal Truth.

Why did Sanatan Sanstha attract me so much?

Sanatan Sanstha and Attraction

You must be wondering why would anybody be affected so much by Sanatan Sanstha. The “offering” that the sanstha puts in front of people is very appealing and put in a simplistic manner. They cloak the wordings to sound scientific. There is a beautiful concoction of Hindu Dharma and science and ordinary things are given a very spiritual meaning. They publish dailies, weeklies and even monthly newsletters. The articles are all about the daily news and about spirituality. The language is simplistic and easy to understand.

So what is the rub?

I always considered myself apart from the hoi-poi, the ordinary people who go about their daily activities without any thought of spiritual upliftment. The constant attacks on Hinduism used to affect me deeply. I always had an urge to do something about it but felt helpless. My family used to laugh at all these feelings. They would never support me, I used to feel. They never understood me. Oh! How wrong I was…

Sanatan Sanstha looks around for such people, people like me who are gullible, who are carried away by good words and who feel that the world does not understand them. Why only Sanatan, there are thousands of such organisations. They do the same thing. Why is Sanatan different from them? Why do people hate Sanatan so much?

I don’t know about others, but ask me and I will say that I hate Sanatan Sanstha because of what it did to me. How it duped me with the sweet words and the promise of Mooksh. How it utilised my feelings and played around with me.

Was I thinking rationally?

The question that arises is, was I ever thinking rationally? Why was I affected so much that I left my house, my family and all my relationship behind me and ran away? Was I hypnotised? Was I drugged? What happened?

The answer lies in psychology, pure human psychology. And Dr. Jayant Athavale has used this as a powerful weapon, a weapon through which he can control the minds of people. Make them do anything that he wants to do, when he wants to do and in the manner, that he desires. People say that he uses a branch of hypnosis; called Ericksonian Hypnosis. But I also know that a person cannot be hypnotised without his or her permission. Jayant Athavale can hypnotise one person at a time, how can he hypnotise so many of them?

The truth is somewhere in between. Sanatan Sanstha uses a powerful blend of psychological methods to capture the minds. The mind control techniques rely on a powerful tool of psychology called Auto Suggestion. The so called sadhaks first identify the individuals who can be diverted, converted and then controlled. Trust me, I was there, I was controlled by them. I was converted by them.

The methods are so simple but so powerful that we accept them without any questions. We accept them and follow them and use them in our daily life. Till one day, we lose control over our lives. We give our control to Sanatan Sanstha.

They win….

We lose, we lose ourselves and hand over ourselves to them.

Look at the faces behind the veil

Sanatan Sanstha - Controversial at its best.

Sanatan Sanstha seems to revel in controversies. It has been accused of mastering murders of several prominent Hindu personages -Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare, and M. M. Kalburgi are prominent among them. They have been accused of other illegal activities as well, some of their followers - they call themselves sadhaks, have been arrested for planting bombs. A doctor is being investigated for using psychotic drugs, maybe illegally acquiring and prescribing such drugs. These are all in public domain, I will not stress too much on the controversies surrounding Sanatan Sanstha. My focus is on their way of operations, the methods used by them and the logic behind them.

I know, because I have been a part of this sanstha, run by a Dr. Jayant Balaji Athavale, a so called hypnotherapist. 

I spent the best part of my life running after the ever elusive Mooksh, an offering of our "beloved" guru, just like others before me did and others are still doing. The substantial following built up by Sanatan Sanstha is impressive. Their method of communication is mesmerising. They offer the ultimate fruit to true "seekers". And people like us get taken in. We forget everything.

Broken Dreams and Broken Houses:

Yes, we forget everything and run to them, run to Sanatan Sanstha. They appear to be saviours in our troubled times. They offer solace, a calming balm to tide over the difficulties, difficulties that are part and parcel of our daily lives. They show as if they have the answers to all our questions, joining them will relieve us of all our difficulties. And some of us are so taken in that we run, run away and leave everything behind. We break our houses and homes. We break our relationships, drive away our near and dear ones; those who love us. Run away from them and the daily friction of life. Run away to one of the Sanatan Sanstha’s ashrams and join them as full time devotees. We want to immerse ourselves into the service of the sanstha and devote our life – the balance of our life, to do seva. They promise us that they will deliver spiritual upliftment, we will become free of worldly needs and wants and attain Mooksh.

Reality Bites and Bites Deep:

And then after some time, reality sets in, at least for some people who have still retained some part of their rational thinking. Some us start questioning the unquestionable faith that is demanded in Sanatan Sanstha. We are not allowed to do so. We cannot do so. But, everyone at the ashram, Sanatan Sanstha has three ashrams, the main one at Ponda, Goa, the second one at Panvel, near Mumbai and another one at Miraj, Maharashtra, faces this moment of truth. But, some of us have come too far, we have burnt too many bridges, severed too many relationships. We cannot look back; we cannot go back. Dr. Jayant Balaji Athavale has achieved his objective. He has a zombie in his hand, a zombie he can control and make him do what he wants to do, when he wants to do and in the manner, he wants to do…

I came back, came back from the brink of disaster. I am now slowly trying to regain my life. I am trying to rebuild loved relationships, relationships I had broken in the first place. It is a slow and painful process; I know I cannot rebuild my past life ever again. The pain will always remain with me till I am alive. It will remain in the hearts of my loved ones, ones I have hurt too deeply. They will carry it forward, the pain in their hearts, long after I have ceased to be.

That is the gift of Sanatan Sanstha.