CREATING A SAINT

One of the companies  I worked for, decided to print a yearly planner with twelve sheets, one for each month. The printing was given to a person; know to one of the company directors.  The man had a printing press, in Mount Road, a prime commercial locality in Chennai. It was his late father’s  press. My director told me that the man was neck deep in debt,[ Rs. 3500000,a huge sum  in the 1990s]. I frequented his press, to supervise the work quality.

He started talking to me, about his work, finances and family. He told me that he meditated regularly. During one such meditation, he saw a vision. Muruga, the Lord  of Tamizh language and the commander-in- chief of the heavenly beings,  appeared to him, and insisted on granting him a boon.

My friend, asked the Lord to be born as his son, because only then as a father he would be able to shower the God with unconditional love. Soon his wife became pregnant, and delivered a son, with the same auspicious star, Vishaka, the star of Lord Muruga.

The son grew up, and being a divine child, could materialize things out of thin air. One day in school, the child’s class mates wanted cool drinks, but no one had cash with them. This child materialized Rs.500, and satisfied the desires of his class mates.  

In another instance, my friend had to go for an important interview, but  did not have any decent clothes to wear. The child reading the father’s mind, asked him to check the wardrobe. And wonder of wonders, there was six pairs of Branded pants and shirts for my friend.

He invited me home to see his child. I could not go then. But, much later in 2005, I met him incidentally,  in a restaurant and he took me home to see the child, now grown into a teenager.

 It was a Thursday . As I entered the house , I saw about 25 devotees, singing bhajans. The God child  , now a God teenager was playing the tabala. The walls had many framed photos of saints and Gods. The glasses of all the photos, were covered in sacred ash,[ vibhuti] and vermilion, [kum kum] all of which were  supposedly, mysteriously to have appeared by itself,  from the photos.

 After the bhajan, the teenager went into a room, and  closed the door. People who wanted to see him in private, could go in one by one, to seek an interview. It was my turn. For all the questions I asked, his answers started with the words, “ Swami says……” The answers he gave were vague, and so, could be interpreted in any way the devotee felt at that moment.

I met him a few months later, along with a friend. This friend had made payments for a house, the completion of which, was inordinately delayed.   He wanted the Swami’s blessing and advice.

I keenly observed the conversation between my friend and God teenager.

My friend said, “ Swami , I am planning to purchase this house, but it is not getting completed.”

 The God teenager said, “ Swami says, there may be minor problems.”

My friends asks, ”What type of problems, Swami?”

The God teenager replies, “ Swami says there will be, some minor cracks on the wall.”

My friend in a worried voice blurts, “ But swami I have given the builder Rs. 500000.”

Suddenly there is pin drop silence. And I could see the God teenager’s eyes widen in surprise at the big sum, and hear the God teenager, taking an involuntary gasp.

The God teenager says, “ Swami says, you have to give Rs. 35000, to a  non-profit organization for your problems to be solved.”

 I interrupt, and ask “ Swami should he give the amount to WWF [World Wildlife Fund] or CRY [Child Rights and You]?”

The God teenager looks at me and says, “ Swami says, your friend can give it to me.”

I once again  butt in and ask, “ In whose name should he issue the cheque Swami?"

The God teenager, walks into my trap by saying, “ Swami says, you have to give Rs. 35000, to me as cash.”In a jiffy, the God teenager stood exposed in his true colors; As a confidence trickster, who used gullible people to earn money.

We took leave of, the God teenager, expressing our inability to cough up such huge amount, in such short notice.

The God teenager‘s father, was the master mind behind the whole set up. He had promoted his son as a God child, to each and every person he had met, putting together  stories of miracles, that had never happened.

Steadily he wanted to build a huge following and an empire for his son by exploiting  the innocent public, which wanted a shortcut solution to all their problems.

The society is full of them. Exploiting the faith of the mass with their charisma, and proclaiming themselves as the middle men between the Creator and the created. Claiming to have occult powers, and duping the devotees, with slight of the hand, which they call miracles.