Nithyananda (born Arunachalam Rajasekaran;[a] 1 January 1978), is an Indian self-styled "godman"[2] (a charismatic religious figure who claims to perform the miraculous). Following charges of rape and abduction filed in Indian courts, Nithyananda fled India and has remained in hiding since 2019.[3] He is the subject of a court-issued non-bailablewarrant relating to the allegations.[4][5] Nithyananda is also wanted since 2019 for unrelated fraud charges in France.[6]
In 2020, he announced the founding of his own self-proclaimed island nation called Kailaasa,[17][18] though some evidence suggests he had been promoting the idea for around 20 years.[7]
Early life
Nithyananda was born Arunachalam Rajasekaran[19][20] in Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu, to father Arunachalam and mother Lokanayaki. He belongs to the Saiva Vellala community.[21][20] Sources conflict as to his birth date – a 2003 United States visa gave a date of 13 March 1977, while a sworn affidavit in a 2010 Karnataka High Court case mentioned 1 January 1978.[20]
Nithyananda at various ages
He was first noticed at the age of three by Yogiraj Yogananda Puri.[21][22] He claims to have had powerful spiritual experiences from age 12 and to have experienced full enlightenment at 22.[23]
In 2002 (age 24), he began his public life under the name Nithyananda.[24] He says that this name was given to him by Mahavatar Babaji in a mystical experience during his monastic wandering days in the Himalayas.[24][25] In 2003, he started his ashram Dhyanapeetam in Bidadi near Bangalore, Karnataka.[21]
Nithyananda Dhyanapeetam, a religious organisation founded by Nithyananda, hosts cultural events in United States as well as India.[19][32][1][33] They hold two Guinness World Records: one for the largest rope yoga class,[34] and one for the largest pole yoga (mallakhamba) class.[35][19]
Nithyananda has made several pseudoscientific claims, including that he delayed the sunrise for 40 minutes, that he could make cattle speak in Tamil and Sanskrit, and that he could disprove the correctness of the mass-energy equivalence formula E = mc2.[37][38][39][40][41][42][43]
He has claimed to have discovered over 400 siddhis, or paranormal abilities, expressible by humans and alleges having initiated his disciples into 60 such powers[44] including kundalini and third-eye awakening.[45][46][47] He has since asserted he would open the third eye, for anyone, free of charge by 2021, claiming that the person would be able to see through smog and walls.[48] Disciples of Nithyananda claim that he gave initiations through "third eye" to a class of 82 blind children,[49] thus curing them of blindness. Skeptic Narendra Nayak challenged Nithyananda to prove his claims.[50]
Nithananda has also claimed to be a human avatar of the Hindu divinity Paramashiva[11] (the meaning of his epithet Nithyananda Paramashivam).
Controversies
In 2010, Sun TV telecast video recordings that claimed to show Nithyananda and an actress Ranjitha (who was one of his followers) in a bedroom. The story became viral among news media in Tamil Nadu.[56] Nithyananda and Ranjitha claimed the video to be fabricated and accused Sun TV of extortion.[57] A forensic sciences laboratory in Bengaluru confirmed that the video appeared to be that of Nithyananda and Ranjitha.[58] Sun TV and other media channels since then were subject to various lawsuits.[59][58][60][61] Ranjitha filed a complaint with the High Court of Karnataka against news channels.[62][63] Channels were ordered to apologize to Ranjitha for violating the complainant's privacy and dignity.[64][65][66][67][68][69]
In 2010, a United States citizen who was a disciple of Nithyananda accused him of raping her in the US and in India repeatedly over the course of five years.[70] She filed a complaint with the police department of Ann Arbor, Michigan, who did not commence any formal investigation.[71] She also filed a complaint with the Karnataka Police in India. On 19 February 2018, the Third Additional District and Sessions Court in Ramanagara ordered the framing of charges against Nithyananda and five others in relation to the case. Criminal revision petitions by the accused were dismissed in the Karnataka High Court on 16 May 2018.[72] An appeal against the High Court decision in the Supreme Court of India, in which all of the accused pleaded not guilty (except for one who was absent from court), was dismissed on 1 June 2018, following which charges were framed in the Ramanagara court on 4 June.[73][74] In August 2022, the Third Additional District and Sessions Court in Ramanagara issued a non-bailable warrant against Nithyananda following multiple orders to appear in court.[4]
In 2019, a couple from Tamil Nadu approached the High Court of Gujarat claiming that three of their four children were taken to Nithyananda's ashram in Ahmedabad from Bangalore without their knowledge; the couple sought return of their children to their custody. A first information report (FIR) for alleged abduction was filed by the Gujarat Police in relation to the case on 17 November 2019.[75][76][77] In affidavits filed in the Gujarat High Court from various locations in the Americas, two of the missing children, who were by that time adults, rejected their father's claim that they have been detained forcibly.[78] In a joint live video statement, the two girls further claimed that their father had plotted the abduction controversy after his name cropped up in an embezzlement case.[79][better source needed] On 2 February 2024, the High Court of Gujrat dismissed the habeas corpus filed by the daughter's father. The court reached this conclusion after interviewing the daughters via video conference. The court noted that the daughters are adults and mature and are consciously residing at a place (Jamaica) and following a spiritual path.[80][81]
Nithyananda was the subject of the 2022 Discovery+docu-seriesMy Daughter Joined a Cult, streamed internationally.[14][82]
Flight from India
On 20 November 2019, the Gujarat Police issued a statement that Nithyananda fled India after choosing not to appear at several court hearings.[17] Some senior police officials did not discount the possibility that he was still in India.[83] Nithyananda wrote to the United Nations in 2021, claiming persecution and seeking recognition of his new "Hindu nation" Kailaasa.[84] He also claimed attempts at mob lynching and assassination as reasons he was forced to withdraw himself from Indian society.[85][86][87]
The Gujarat Police suspected that he could be shuffling between Ecuador and Trinidad and Tobago, while news reports said that he may have gone to Ecuador because the country does not have an extradition treaty with India.[88] The same month, the Embassy of Ecuador said that it "categorically denies the statement wherever published that Nithyananda was given asylum by Ecuador or has been helped by the Government of Ecuador in purchasing any land or island in South America", but has confirmed Nithyananda had reached Ecuador after he left India, then left soon after his request for international personal protection (refuge) was denied.[89]
The French government also has been seeking Nithyananda's whereabouts since 2019, to answer for fraud charges brought by a former devotee in France who claimed he was cheated by the guru out of an amount around US$400,000.[6]
In December 2019, Nithyananda claimed that he had created a new "Hindu nation" microstate called Kailaasa (also known as Shrikailasa, Kailasa, and United States of Kailaasa[3] or USK[90]) and claimed to issue passports, currency, and other documents.[91][92][93][94] Nithyananda claims that Kailaasa is the world's only sovereign Hindu nation.[95] Kailaasa has also been described as a network of non-governmental organisations spanning three continents.[96][97] The general consensus among the mainstream press is that Kailaasa is a fictional "fake country" and even a scam or con.[3][90][16][15][98][10][13][99]
Publications
Nithyananda, Paramahamsa (2004). Open the door... let the breeze in!. Life Bliss Foundation. ISBN978-8190243711.
Nithyananda, Paramahamsa (2004). Meditation is for You: An Introduction to the Science and Art of Meditation. Life Bliss Foundation. ISBN978-8190243742.
Nithyananda, Paramahamsa (2008). Guaranteed Solutions for Lust, Fear, Worry ... Life Bliss Foundation. ISBN978-1606070314.
Nithyananda, Paramahamsa (2008). Living Enlightenment. Life Bliss Foundation. ISBN978-1606070482.
Nithyananda, Paramahamsa (2009). Arunachala! The Giver of Nithyananda. Nithyananda Yoga & Meditation University. ISBN978-1606070581.
^"Search: rope yoga". GuinnessWorldRecords.com. Jim Pattison Group. 2017. Retrieved 23 November 2017. The largest rope yoga lesson is of 272 participants and was organized by H.H. Sri Nithyananda Swami (India) and Nithyananda University (USA) in Bengaluru, India, on 30 September 2017. Rope yoga involves completing postures on a rope suspended from the ceiling. It was performed by disciples of Swami Nithyananda at their ashram outside Bengaluru, India.
^"Search: pole yoga". GuinnessWorldRecords.com. Jim Pattison Group. 2017. Retrieved 11 November 2017. The largest mallakhamba lesson is of 263 participants and was achieved by H.H. Sri Nithyananda Swami (India) and Nithyananda University (USA) at Bengaluru, India, on 3 October 2017. Mallakhamba is a traditional Indian exercise form where yoga postures are done on a vertical wooden pole.
^Saxena, Lalit (2016). "नित्यानंद बोले ड्रग, डिप्रेशन और डेथ से बचाएगा डिवाइन पॉवर" [Nityananda to Save from Drugs, Depression and Death with Divine Power]. Rajasthan Patrika / Patrika Ujjain (in Hindi). Archived from the original on 13 June 2018. Retrieved 7 March 2018. मनुष्य में कोई 400 प्रकार की अद्भुत शक्तियां हैं। ध्यान, सिद्ध अद्वैत योग का अभ्यास उन शक्तियों को जाग्रत कर सकता है। यह वैदिक विज्ञान है। इसमें किसी तरह का जादू नहीं है। अभी हम यहां शिविर में 60 प्रकार की ऊर्जा के विकसित स्वरूप के दर्शन कर सकते हैं, शेष 340 भी कर सकते हैं [There are about 400 types of amazing powers in humans. Meditation, practice of Siddha Advaita Yoga can awaken those powers. This is Vedic science. There is no magic in this. Right now we can see the developed form of 60 types of energy here in the camp, the remaining 340 can also be seen]
^"नित्यानंद ने 70 लोगों को दी दीक्षा" [Nithyananda initiated 70 people]. Dainik Jagran (in Hindi). Retrieved 7 April 2018. कल्पतरु दर्शन शिविर में शनिवार को योगाभ्यास, सत्संग व कीर्तन के साथ 70 लोगों को स्वामी नित्यानंद ने गुरुमंत्र की दीक्षा दी। इस दौरान स्वामी नित्यानंद गुरुकुल के बटुकों द्वारा त्रिनेत्र शक्ति का प्रदर्शन किया गया। [During Kalpataru darshan on saturday along with yoga practise, satsang and devotional songs, 70 people were initiated into Gurumantra by Nithyananda. At the same time, children of Swami Nithyananda's gurukul school demonstrated third eye powers.]
^ ab"कल्पतरु दर्शन शिविर में त्रिनेत्र शक्ति का प्रदर्शन" [Third Eye power demonstration during Kalpataru Darshan]. Dainik Jagran (in Hindi). Retrieved 7 April 2018. नित्यानंद गुरुकुल के बच्चों द्वारा त्रिनेत्र शक्ति के तहत आखों पर पट्टी बाधकर पढ़ने और शरीर को स्कैन कर बीमारियों के बारे में बताते देख लोग आश्चर्यचकित रह गए [The children of the Nithyananda Gurukul with the power of the third eye read blindfolded and scanned the bodies of people and told about their diseases, experiencing this people were amazed.]
^"Swami Nithyananda assures No More Blinds!". Afternoon Voice. 24 January 2019. According to the disciples of the self-styled Godman HDH Nithyananda Paramashivam on January 23, he initiated into powers of the third eye to 82 students afflicted by varying stages of blindness at a blind school in Vastrapur area of Ahmedabad, Gujarat, claiming there will be No More Blind kids! As per the Nithyananda Hindu University, "Bhagawan Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam" initiated powers of the third eye to the blind children enabling them to read print material with consistency and stability while recognising shapes, pictures, objects, and colours for the first time in their lives.
^"गुरु पुजा के बाद चला मुलाकात का दौर" [After Gurupuja there were meetings]. Dainik Jagran. 3 April 2018. Archived from the original on 8 April 2018. Retrieved 7 April 2018. बेंगलुरु के स्वामी नित्यानंद आश्रम में अलौकिक शिक्षा ग्रहण करने वाले छात्र नित्य तत्वानंद व प्रेमाश्वरूपानंद अपने गुरु भाई विद्वेश्वरानंद व आत्मपूजानंदम के साथ सोमवार को गोरखनाथ मंदिर में मुख्यमंत्री योगी आदित्यनाथ से मिलने पहुंचे [Nithya Tatvananda and Premeshavrupananda who received extraordinary knowledge in Swami Nithyananda ashram in Bengaluru, along with their guru brother Vidveshvarananda and Aatmapujananda went to Gorakhnaath temple this Monday to meet with the Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.]
