We have practically no true Sanyasi today as most of the self-proclaimed Sanyasis own establishments, sell spirituality and are power hungry. To attend the discourse of many of our spiritual leaders, you have to shell out money. They are bigger than the film stars and ask for donations for their orgnisations to appear for personal functions.

Once I asked Deepak Chopra as to how we can differentiate between different types of spiritual leaders. He said that most of the spiritual leaders are spiritual agents who are comparable to a travel agent who can sell a hotel or a travel tour without ever going into that place. Similarly, spiritual leaders can sell spirituality without being a Sanyasi.

So, you cannot expect today’s spiritual gurus to talk the language of ancient sages. Aasaram Bapu’s recent comments about the gang rape are his personal views, which have come from his mind and the intellect. These words are not from Aasaramji’s heart because heart can never talk non spiritual. The words like ‘barking dogs’ can never come from the mouth of a true Sanyasi. Similarly the words like ‘taali ek haath se nahin bajti’ can never be spoken for a rape victim who fought till last and gave away her life.

A true spiritual Sanyasi will not own anything, not even clothes and food, not to talk of a house. They will depend on Bhiksha for clothes as well as for their daily food. If they do not get Bhiksha, they will remain without food.

To me, Asaram is a common man with spiritual knowledge but no spiritual experiences.