Reporters Satsang

OutlookIndia

After over a hundred devotees died at Bhole Baba’s satsang in Hathras recently, Outlook's latest issue, "Brand Baba" explores why people believe in godmen and godwomen.  Reporters: Chinki Sinha, Rakhi Bose, Tanul Thakur and  Avantika Mehta  Camera: Tribhuvan Tiwari   Follow us: Website: https://www.outlookindia.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Outlookindia Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/outlookindia/ X: https://twitter.com/Outlookindia Whatsapp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaNrF3v0AgWLA6OnJH0R Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@OutlookMagazine Dailymotion: https://www.dailymotion.com/outlookindia  #Hathras #Babas #Godmen #Godwomen #Devotees #BholeBaba #Satsangs #UP #RadheMaa #BharmaKumaris #ParamahamsaNithyananda #VirenderDevDixit #HathrasStampede

Transcript

00:00So, basically you know Hathras the incident happened you know it was very tragic many

00:04people lost their lives and we sent Rakhi then to cover it for the overlap section,

00:11but from there you know Satish who is the managing editor he said that there is something

00:17about this and then we kind of discussed it and we thought maybe we should look at this

00:22Baba you know this brand Baba who are they what they are about and why people follow

00:28them and as a magazine actually we can do these kinds of stories in great detail and

00:34as everybody now knows that Outlook is a thematic magazine so we tried and sent as many people

00:40as we could.

00:45First impression that we got was one of secrecy and guardedness I mean there are very tall

00:51walls they do not actually look like typical ashrams which have a more austere kind of

00:58effect, but these ashrams Bhole Baba or Surajpal Singh Jatav's ashrams they almost have a

01:08fort fortress like appearance they have tall walls gilded gates and the gates are usually

01:14locked and there are armed personnel around the gates you know so you one can't enter

01:22very easily I think secrecy is one of the first things that kind of meets you when you

01:27go to these ashrams.

01:28So I went to a local Brahma Kumari center in South Delhi since I was the only one present

01:34the atmosphere was quiet serene on the both sides of the walls I could see the gist of

01:42this sect's teachings which comprised I mean a few photos of their religious head Dadalekh

01:47Raj there were some messages about the soul and the body and the connection between them

01:54and things like that shortly I had a two hour long chat with a Brahma Kumari Didi and

02:00how did your interaction with Brahma Kumari Didi make you feel?

02:04I am not dismissing that interaction although I mean if it's something that would have gone

02:09on for quite some time it perhaps would have had some kind of an effect on me so that was

02:15that I mean different people have different gods I mean if Satyajit Ray Saab comes today

02:20and talks to me about something I'll be a convert in like 15 seconds flat.

02:25When we visited the Rohini ashram it was in fact being raided by the CBI and it had lawyers

02:32who had come to see the women who still continue to go back in there but it was such a fortress

02:38that we would not have known that there were any lawyers there we would not have known

02:42that the authorities were there it's a four-story building every single window is covered with

02:48blackout sheets and also covered with iron grill bars so it's like a prison.

02:54Well we I've been I've always been intrigued by this Radhe Maa you know I used to see the

03:00billboards you know way back I think a few years ago I was in Chembur and I saw this

03:04huge billboard of this lady in red and it was a real estate advertisement and I'm like why

03:11is she there on this real estate and so when we went there and we were asked to come to

03:16in her there's something called Radhe Maa palace and they have these life-size maybe more actually

03:24Greek gods that guard this place you know Greek the statues basically it's quite odd

03:29and then when you enter there's a temple where like these two women were you know doing some

03:35chanting but the statue of the goddess was actually with this wig it was not like Durga

03:42the traditional statue that we're looking at it had a bob cut kind of a hairdo and then we go

03:48inside this massive house which is like four stories and there's a lift inside and there are

03:53all these young girls over there who are wearing these bands and we are ushered into this room

03:59where Radhe Maa's assistant Tali Baba is there and a bunch of other people are there so the

04:06interesting thing was that there was this video which was playing on loop about Radhe Maa's life

04:10and times and how Radhe Maa is and it's like you know those promotional kind of videos where

04:15her father is talking about this miracle girl her school teacher and all of it and then all these

04:22people who have been called to do this whatever darshan because it's a special darshan it's not

04:28her usual satsang so they start talking about these miracles that happened because of Radhe

04:36which was also operating in a very ambiguity space you know in the sense that

04:42it could have happened otherwise also but they were like saying attributing everything to

04:46Radhe Maa more interesting thing was to be there in that space and because they built up the

04:53suspense like this that today tonight one of us will be blessed Radhe Maa gave us darshan at 11

05:00in the night and we were taken to the top floor where everything was red there was this tapasya

05:06room and you know how you have in the weddings these singhasans where the bride and the groom

05:11sit like these gilded like gold thing so everything was like that and there's these

05:16massive doors they were ushered into this gufa and we are in this line but we are also made to

05:21wear these bands because we can't not so we even said that we are journalists we can't wear it but

05:27because for the darshan you so you know there are those things that you have to do so we go inside

05:31and she's sitting on this bed and she's holding this trishul so we go there and then there are

05:37several people there and a lot of well-to-do people actually who are you know some television

05:44actresses things like and then the atmosphere is also very charged you know they're playing all

05:48these gufe me rende wali bata songs and everything and Radhe Maa is like sitting very quietly on

05:54this bed so on the bed there was a chair kind of a thing where she was sitting holding this and

05:59everybody has to go in line and seek the blessing after that we are made to sit around her and then

06:04the suspense thing begins you know who is she going to call so she calls somebody then she

06:08calls a photographer and she places her hands like this you know so that was also very intriguing

06:14and this whole word of kripa being thrown around so i asked her is this a lonely life and she

06:20started crying

Category

Transcript

Recommended