The Swami Narayana Cult.
Q. - What do you think of Swami Narayana Cult?
A. ~ The proverb "Like the goddess Shitla, like her beast for
riding the donkey" aptly applies to
This sect. In other words, the followers of Swami Narayana resort
to the same sort of wonderful
trickery in order to fleece others as the Gosaeens. The brief
history of this sect is as follows: -
There was a man called Shjanand. He was a native of a village near
Ayodhya. While he was
wandering as a Brahmachari through Gujarat., Kathiawar, Kutch and
the like countries, he
noticed that the natives of those countries were very ignorant and
guileless, one could easily lead
them to believe in whatever religion one liked. He, therefore, cast
his net of fraud and hypocrisy
there and made three or four disciples who took counsel among
themselves and gave it out that
Sahjanand was an incarnation of Narayana and possessed of great
miraculous powers.
He could assume the four-armed body of Narayana Himself for the
pleasure of those who are
devoted to him. One of this disciples asked Dada Khachar, a great
landowner of Paran in
Kathiawar, that if he desired to see the four-armed Narayana they
could request Sahjanand to
grant his wish. He answered that he thought, it would be a very
good thing, if Sahjanand could do
it. That Dada Khachar was a perfect dunce. Sahjanand in dark room
put a diadem on his head and held a conch-shell in one hand and a discus in the
other - both hands lifted upwards.
Another man stood behind him with a mace in one hand and a lotus in
the other and then thrust
his hands forward under his armpits and lo there was a veritable
four-armed Narayana! The
disciples of Sahjanand instructed him to have only one peep at
Narayana and then immediately
close his eyes and come out of the room, otherwise if he looked at
him too long Narayana might
get angry with him.
They took him to the dark room in which Sahjanand was standing
motionless, like a statue,
wearing shining silk garments. They turned light on him by means of
a lantern. The moment Dada
Khachar saw the form of the four-armed Narayana, light was turned
off. All of them fell down on
their knees and paid their homage to Narayana and came out of the
room. At the same time they
said to Dada Khachar that he was a very lucky man, he should now
become the disciple of His
Holiness. He assented to their proposal. By the time they got to
another room, Sahjanand had
change his dress and was found seated on a cushioned seat there.
They pointed out to Dada Khachar that His Holiness had assumed
another form and was present
there. He fell in their tap and from that very moment the Swami
Narayana cult took root as Dada
Khachar was a great landowner. Sahjanand made that place his
headquarters. He wandered
here and there preaching to all. He initiated (sadhus) many of his
disciples into the Order of
mendicants.
Occasionally he would press some nerve in the neck of a sadhu
(disciple) and render him
unconscious and tell people that he had caused him to attain the
clairvoyant state. The simple,
guileless people of Kathiawar were ensnared by him by such acts of
scoundrelism. After his
death, his followers practiced a great deal of fraud and hypocrisy.
Their case will be aptly
illustrated by the following story:-
A man was caught burgling. The judge ordered his nose and ears to
be cut off by way of
punishment. As soon as his nose was cut, that scoundrel began to
sing, dance and laugh. The
people asked him why he did it. He replied it was not a thing that
could be told. They, again,
inquired what kind of thing it was that could not be talked about.
He answered it was such a thing that he had never heard of it before. They
again said; "come, come, tell us what it is." He rejoined that he
could see the very four-armed Narayana Himself standing before him and that is
the reason that he sang and dances and blessed his stars that he had seen the
Lord face to face. The people wanted to know why they
could not see Narayana. He replied that their noses were in the
way, they could only see Him
when their noses were cut off, and not otherwise.
Some dunce among the people wanted to see Narayana even at the
sacrifice of his nose. He
offered his nose to be cut so that he could see Narayana. That
rogue chopped off his nose and
whispered in his ears, "you should also do like me, otherwise
we shall be laughed at." Thereupon
that man also began to sing, dance, skip about, play and laugh, and
say that he could also see
Narayana. By and by, the mumber of the people who had their noses
cut in order to see
Narayana, reached about 1,000. There was then a great hallabaloo,
they called their sect "The
cult of Narayana-seers."
An ignorant king heard of it and sent for those people. when they
got there, they began to sing,
dance and laugh. The king asked them the reason of all this. They
replied that they saw the
Narayana Himwself face to face. The king asked why he did not see
Him. The Narayana-seers
answered that he could not do so on account of his nose. A soon as
he would have his nose cut,
he would see Narayana face to face.
The King thought that it appeared to be right. He, thereupon, asked
his astrologer to find out the
most auspicious time for having his nose removed. He replied:
"May it please Your Majesty! O
giver of food! * o'clock on the morning of the tenth instant, is
the most auspicious time for having
Your Majesty's nose cut and for seeing Narayana." Well done, O
Pope! Is in your almanack
recorded even the time for chopping off one's nose.
When the king made up his mind to have his nose cut off, he ordered
that all those thousand men
be fed at the expense of the State. On this they went into ecstasy
and began to sing, dance and
skip about. The ministers and some other wise people of the State
did not like this affair. There
was an old man 90 years old who was Prime Minister four generations
back. His great grandson
who was Prime Minster at the time told him everything. Thereupon he
said: "That man is a
scoundrel, take me to the king." He did as he was asked to do.
When he had taken his seat, the king gladly told him everything about the Narayana-seers.
The old Diwan, i.e. the ex-Prime Minister answered, "Hear, O King. Do not
be in such a hurry. One soon repents of what one has done precipitately without
properly inquiring into it."
King - Could all those thousand men be telling a lie?
Diwan ~ They might be telling the truth or a lie. That cannot be
decided until the matter has been
properly investigated.
King - How to investigate
Diwan ~ By the help of our knowledge of the Laws of Nature and the
eight kinds of evidence,
such as Direct Cognition.
King - How can one, who has not read, inquire into a matter?
Diwan ~ By advancing his knowledge, by associating with the
learned.
King - What should one do if one could not find a learned man?
Diwan ~ Nothing is impossible for one who strives after a thing.
King - Pray, then, tell us what is to be done in this case
King ~ I am an old man, live an indoor life, and have only a few
days more to live, let me then first
test the truth of the contention of these men. You can afterwards
do what ever you thing proper.
King - it is a very good suggestion. Find out, O Astrologer, the
most auspicious time for our
beloved Diwan (to have his nose cut).
Astrologer - May it pleas Your Majesty! 10 a.m. on the 5th of the
bright half of the current month is
the most propitious time for this purpose.
On the appointed day the old Diwan went to the King at 8 a.m., and
asked him to take a couple
thousand soldiers with him (to the place where his nose was to be
cut).
King - What is the use of the soldiers there?
Diwan - Your Majesty is not so well-versed in statecraft. Have the
kindness to do as I suggest.
King - "Well General! Go and get the soldiers ready."
The King formed a procession and set out with ministers and other
influential men at 9:30 a.m.
When the Narayana-seers saw the king coming towards them, they
began to sing and dance. The King sent for their leader who was the founder of
this sect and was the first one whose nose was cut, spoke to him thus:
"Show Naryana to our Diwan to-day." He assented. When it was ten
o'clock, a man held a plate under the nose of the old Diwan, while the leader
of the Narayana-seers chopped off his nose with a sharp knife and placed it on
the plate. A stream of blood began to flow from his nose, and the Diwan's face
became pale. The rascal, then, whispered into his ear. "You do
also laugh and tell the people that
you see Narayana now. Remember a cut nose cannot be made whole and
if you don't say what I
tell you, everybody will laugh at you."
After he had said this, he stood apart. The Diwan took his
handkerchief and pressed it against his
cut nose. The king asked him, "Tell us pray if you see
Narayana now." He whispered in the King's
ear, "I see nothing. This rascal has, without any cause,
disfigured and misled these thousand
people." The king, then, asked him what he advised him to do.
The Dwan answered, "Arrest them
all, inflict heavy punishment on them and keep them in prison as
long as they live, whilst the
scoundrel who led them all astray should be placed on the back of a
donkey.
Let various indignities be heaped upon him and let him, then, be
put to death. When the
Narayana-seers saw the King and his Diwan whispering into each
other's ears, they made
preparations for running away, but being surrounded on all sides by
the soldiers they could not
escape. The King ordered. "Let all of them be arrested and
fettered. Let their villainous ringleader's
face be blackened. Let him be made to ride on a donkey and wear a
necklace of torn and tattered
shoes and pass through all the principal streets of the town in
this condition. Let the children
throw dust and ashes on him.
Let him them be beaten with shoes in all the chief thoroughfares
and finally out to death by being
torn to pieces by dongs. If this rogue be suffered to go
unpunished, nothing will deter other from
following his evil example." Thus did the cult of the
Narayana-seers come to an ignominious end.
Like them there are plenty of other people opposed to the teachings
of the Veda who are very
clever in defrauding other of their money. Such are the evil doings
of various sects.
The followers of the Swami Narayana cult resort to trickery, fraud,
and imposition in order to
fleece others. Many among them, in order to mislead the ignorant,
declare on their death-bed that
Sahjanand seated on a white horse has come to convey them to heaven
and that he always
came to that temple once a day. On the occasion of a fair the
priests remain inside the temple
while down below a shop is kept open which communicates with the
temple through an opening. Whenever a cocoanut has been offered in the temple,
it is thrown down into the shop through that hole. That cocoanut is again
bought and offered by some other worshipper. Thus the same cocoanut is sold
about a thousand times in a single day. Other articles are sold in
the same way.
There is another thing peculiar to this sect. A Sadhu of this sect
is made to do the work of the
caste he belongs to, for instance, a barber Sadhu shaves, a potter
Sadhu makes pots, a Sadhu
who belongs to the artisan caste does the work of an artisan. A
Sadhu, who is a bania (a
shopkeeper) by caste does the work of bania. A Shudra Sadhu that of
a Shudra..
The priests of this sect have imposed a sort of taxc on their
followers and by their quackery
amassed millions which go on multiplying every day. whoever
succeeds to the Sahjanand throne
marries and becomes a householder, wears jewelry (ornaments).
Whenever he is invited to the
house of one of his disciples, like the Gosaeens he accepts
offerings in his own name as well as
in that of his wife, children, etc. The followers of this sect call
themselves good company, whilst
other they call bad company!
They never serve anyone or show respect to anyone, however good and
learned he may be. If he
belongs to some other faith, as it is considered a sin by them to
do so. In public the Sadhus of
this sect do not even see the face of a woman but in private who
knows what evil practices are
rampant among them. Not much has come to light. Here and there a
few cases of sodomy have come out. When those who hold high positions among
them are about to die, their disciples throw them sown into a
secret well and give it out that such and such a holy man with body
and all has gone to heaven.
Sahjanand himself came to take him away. He carried him away, in
spite of our repeated
requests, to let that holy man remain here as he was of great use
here on this earth, but he
replied that he was badly needed in heaven. They would say that
they saw Sahjanand and the
air-ship with their own eyes. He seated that holy man in the
air-ship with their own eyes. He
seated that holy man in the air-ship and carried him up, while
flowers were being showered on
him.
Whenever a Sadhu falls ill and there is not hope of his recovery,
he declares that he will go to
heaven tomorrow night. The rumor has it that even if he did not
happen to die that night but
merely lost consciousness, he is nevertheless thrown (alive) into a
well for fear of his prophecy turning out to be false. Similarly, when a
Gokalaya Gosaeen dies, his disciples say that the Gosaeen has spread out his
lila (sport). The mantra that is taught by the Gosaeens and Swami Narayana
priests is the same, viz., "Shri Krishna my shelter" which they say,
means "Shri Krishna is my shelter" but may also mean "let
Shri Krishna seek my shelter."
All these sects compose mantras of absurd construction quite
contrary to the rules of Grammar,
etc. Their leaders being illiterate, cannot be acquainted with the
laws of Grammar and Logic.
[LIGHT OF TRUTH, pp-460-466]
