India’s David Copperfield debunks the myth of India’s resident staticky-haired Einsteinian (“Matter is energy”) godman.

Although Abhi might want to hook up with him since he’s set his sights on the moon now.

sleight-of-hand?

i have wondered this as well.

i think an important thing is a “show of strength” through effective pr. you have your cronies tell everyone how great you are. miracles help too.

Um, how does one ascertain whether a prayer that one paid for was really prayed or not? I see how the person who prays can claim credit for any success that might befall the recipient, but what sort of proof-of-purchase can be offered for vaporware like “I will pray for you”?

Well, I’ve been friends with a few pirs and fakirs in my disreputable youth; it was rather a lucrative business at one point (even more so if you could get a politician as an acolyte).

In most cases you mumble something (ostensibly the prayer) and blow on the supplicant or some symbolic prop (e.g. the pen with which the supplicant’s daughter will take her matriculation exam), and the supplicant goes away convinced and happy.

its a powerful community mouthpiece

So everyone here has been upset over the proliferation of so-called “false babas” in India. These babas come to Vancouver and Toronto, rent beautiful homes, and drive luxurious cars. They implore their followers for money and other forms of support. Sometimes they teach out of an adjusted or modified Guru Granth Sahib. And they always leave richer than they left.

Not anymore, though. The Indian community in Vancouver recently banded together to throw out one such prophet because they claimed he was misleading and manipulating Indians living there. They staged a community intervention, in which long bearded Sikhs turned out with women clad in Punjabi suits. The discussion that ensued was broadcast on a local Punjabi news show and it was loud and filled with excitement, but the outcome was clear: the new baba from India had far too much money and demanded way too much style to be a genuinely holy man. He was performing miracles, but the results of his efforts were suspect.

The Edmonton Indians, interviewed on India Radio in Vancouver, said that the baba had planned to come to their community after reaping his reward in Vancouver. We’ve heard about the whole thing, they said. And he’s certainly not going to be welcome here after what went down in Vancity.

I guess its not a surprise that a drama with similar themes is now being played out in the Punjab, where a local guru with 1.5 million followers, who sometimes appears with a crown as a self styled king, dressed up in Guru Gobind’s ceremonial clothes and emulated him- something which Sikhs are forbidden to do. No man should be worshipped as a guru other than the Adi Granth, because under Sikhism, all people are equal. You aren’t supposed to even pretend to be favoured above others in that fashion. So naturally, Sikhs were not happy. Indian media did a wonderful job explaining it, and because it was such a big deal even in expatriate communities, the BBC and the CBC covered it as well.

I loved the BBC’s explanation of this news- they had obviously done their research. But the CBC’s version depicted Sikhs as almost inexplicably savage, ending with threats to kill anyone who tried to be a Guru. Anyway, if you want to read about this latest contretemps, the stories are here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6670569.stm

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2007/05/18/bc-sikh.html

http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20070012712

http://68.178.224.54/udayavani/showstory.asp?news=0&contentid=417991&lang=1

I’m hesitant to walk all over this “guru”, although it does seem he deserves it- because he has a strong Dalit following, and lord knows, the Dalits need options on which ideology they can follow. I’ll leave it to you to decide whether you think he is shady

Roshan Bai offered something crazy and these people laped it up – a win to the lottery

Does a beard help? What about an ability to reproduce the collected works of Oprah Chopra? How do you convey the combination of optimism and co-dependence that will encourage the idiots believers to part with their money to you in return for benediction?