Self-styled godman Nithyananda once claimed that he was able to delay sunrise

There is no record to show whether he was able to do this “godly” act, but he certainly seems to have been able to delay hearing in cases against him in Indian courts.

Instead, this godman, who had once run several ashrams and temples in the country, and made extravagant claims like being able to cure children of blindness, make cows talk, and open a person’s third eye, is reportedly lording over an island kingdom off the coast of Ecuador.

Claiming to be endowed with spiritual enlightenment at the age of 12, and a raging libido along with it, Nithyananda has been dogged by several controversies, which includes a rape charge, allegations of tantric sex, fraud and illegally confining minors in his ashram in Gujarat.

Nithyananda, a figure of fun on social media for his outrageously absurd comments, is hogging headlines once again.

Despite the dubious distinction of being a fugitive with a non-bailable warrant issued against him by an  Indian court Nithyananda managed to peddle his narrative of being intensely “persecuted” by India before no less a platform than the United Nations.

Two representatives from Nithyananda’s purported island country, called the Republic of Kailasa, recently popped up at a UN meeting in Geneva.

It is not clear how these two, one dressed with elaborate headgear and bejewelled, found their way into a discussion conducted by the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) in Geneva on February 24. (There is a link to register for the event on CESCR’s website).

During the meeting held to consult with relevant stakeholders on economic, social, cultural rights and sustainable development, Nithyananda’s disciples demanded protection for the self-designated “Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism”.

They complained about Nithyananda’s “intense persecution and human rights violation” in his country of birth.

And all because he was “reviving the indigenous traditions and lifestyle and lifestyle of Hinduism”, said Vijaypriya, his disciple.

Nithyananda has been banned from preaching and exiled from his birth country, she added, for good measure.

The disciple asked what can be done to help him. The UN panel clearly had no answers. Not surprisingly, the USK isn’t among the 193 countries recognised by the UN.

But Nithyananda’s disciple Vijaypriya managed to draw attention to Kailasa, the so-called first sovereign state for Hindus, established by “Nithyanand Paramashivam” no less.

She said he is doing this to “revive the enlightened Hindu civilisation and its 10,000 indigenous Hindu traditions.”

On the website, Kailasa is described not as an abode of the gods but as a ‘Nation without borders created by dispossessed Hindus who lost the right to practise Hinduism authentically in their own countries’.

Kailasa, which Nithyananda claims to have set up in 2020, has its own passport, flag and even a bank named “Reserve Bank of Kailasa”.

The country has its own triangular flag with an emblem of Lord Paramashiva and Nandi, with Nithyananda seated below and is called the ‘Rishabha Dhvaja’. “The Supreme Pontiff”  has asked people to download the flag and fly it in temples and in their homes.

This is not the first time Nithyananda has had international recognition of sorts. In December 2020, according to a report in an international newspaper, Nithyananda’s followers were invited to the Hindu Forum Britain’s Diwali celebrations in the House of Lords.

The brochure also carried a full page advert for Kailasa UK.

The metamorphosis 

Nithyananda was born as Arunachalam Rajasekaran in a middle-class family in Thiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu. At three, he was taken under the wing of Yogiraj Yogananda Puri — a revered sadhu in his village. The yogi took him as a disciple, predicting that he’d be a great saint one day.

Nithyananda’s father was a grocery shop owner, while his mother was a homemaker, who took care of their three sons. After his guru’s demise, Rajasekaran left his village at 17 and wandered for eight years before settling in Bangalore.

In 2003, he started his ashram Dhyanapeetam in Bidadi near Bangalore, and shortly thereafter its US branch — Life Bliss Foundation — opened in Los Angeles.  His devotees included politicians and films stars. Nithyananda reportedly had more than 1,000 spiritual centres in 40 countries.

He published around 500 books in 27 languages based on his teachings, which range from meditation courses to public discourses. And, he also made it to the international magazine Mind Body Spirit’s 2012 list of the world’s top 100 most spiritually influential personalities.

In 2010, Nithyananda found himself in a sex scandal that brought him to the forefront.

A sex video of him and a Tamil actress Ranjitha was aired on TV channels. He protested saying that he was just practising the ‘shavasana’ and was impotent and even told a Kolkata newspaper that he was a virgin, while the actress flatly denied that it was she in the video.

Meanwhile, his former driver, who alleged that he had filmed the sex tape  took him to court and a rape case was filed against him.

At the same time, a devotee Aarti Rao alleged that they were in a relationship for five years and that he had repeatedly raped her.

The woman had been a disciple of the controversial guru between 2004 and 2009. Later, he backtracked in court about his impotency and said the relationship with this woman had been consensual.

A case was filed against him in Bangalore. He was finally arrested from Himachal Pradesh’s Solan district on April 21, 2010. Nithyananda was, however, let off on bail.

After news emerged that he had forced some of his followers to sign a non-disclosure agreement to experiment with tantric sex, the then Karnataka’s D V Sadananda Gowda government launched a CID probe on these charges.

More trouble awaited the swamiji when in 2019 a couple approached Gujarat High Court  claiming their daughters were illegally confined at an ashram in Ahmedabad. The police raided the ashram and arrested two managing disciples for abusing children in the ashram and forcing them to do child labour.

Following this, the Gujarat High Court issued notices to Nithyananda and the state government on a habeas corpus petition filed by the father of the children.

Out on bail in the rape case, it is not clear when Nithyananda fled the country. His passport had also expired in September 2018 and his request for its renewal had been rejected.

On August 2022, a sessions court in Ramanagara, adjoining Bengaluru, issued a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against Nithyananda in the 2010 rape case. Another report said that he was also being investigated by French authorities for an alleged $400,000 fraud filed by his former French disciple.

In the midst of the actress Ranjitha controversy, a mellowed down Nithyananda had said in an interview that he does not perform miracles and only offers physical and mental healing for psychosomatic disorders. “I teach only meditation, yogic kriyas and my spiritual discourses are from the Brahma Sutras, Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, Shiva Sutras and the Bhagavad Gita,” he said.

Clearly that was not all as the UN arangetram of his United States of Kailasa indicates.