125. 11 June 2012 : Police conduct a raid; search and seize temple property and enforce SEAL

Following the CM's instruction (of 9th June 2012), on 11th June 2012, the State Police entered the Aadheenam led by the Superintendent of Police Anupam Agarwal with at least 100 IPS officers and officers from several Government departments such as Revenue, District Administration etc.

Sri Nithya Advaitananda, the principal of the Gurukul (school) recalls, "The whole operation was illegal! We were victims of multiple malicious attacks and were just

recuperating. And here, was the next attack in another form: a raid….to search what?! We are an Aadheenam, a temple-monastery, raising consciousness of human beings! What will they find here?! Truly, I felt most violated at having to accompany them on the "raid" inside the campus. And a raid triggered not by the course of any law but "planned" by malicious persecutors! It was the most frustrating, arbitrary and inhuman treatment that should not be given to any citizen, leave alone a Hindu incarnation!"

"All the containers were opened, all the rooms were searched. They finally went to the sacred Banyan tree area behind the temple. The Banyan tree is a mystical tree and energy hub of the entire Aadheenam. It is not meant to be violated in any form. I was shocked when they started digging under the tree in a location. They were digging as if trillions of Rupees would come out of the ground! I was shocked beyond words. They dug and ofcourse did not find anything.

They completed the search and seize operations and took away material that was never returned to us. It was sheer "justified" daylight robbery.

After seizure, they went around and sealed many metal containers and main parts of the Aadheenam like the welcome center, the administrative office and the accounts office. In those containers we had stored our basic departmental items such as temple items, published books, housekeeping related items, temple ritual items (vibhuti, kumkum, chandan ...) etc. The seal jeopardised our fundamental temple operations. We could not digest that we were 1) attacked 2) nearly killed 3) arrested 4) raided and now our main operational buildings sealed!

The entire illegal raid and seizure was presented in the mainstream-media as if a host of great criminal activities had been going on and the officers were there to discover all of that. However, none of the 100 officers who raided, bothered to give a statement to the media to clarify that they raided but could not find any trace of any kind of illegal activity in the sacred temple monastery."

Ma Nithya Advaitananda (Principal of Gurukul) recalls, "The police came as scavengers, plundering and sealing our Gurukul…..It was a rude shock for the children… they were traumatized beyond repair, even today when they see anyone with a police uniform, they shiver and weep! Nothing was safe! We were not even through the ordeal of attack by the Suvarna TV mob, and here the police, who were supposed to protect the children were searching the Gurukul and disgustingly throwing away the school supplies! I ran every minute to safeguard the security of the children, as they shed hot tears seeing their place of study sealed.

What is the law in illegally sealing the Gurukul where we are creating the divine children, who will lead and serve humanity with truth and love?

They abused and attacked the innocent children - they closed all access to bring basic needs for the children.

My heart felt weak as I ran to get basic food for the children. Some of the children needed immediate medical care and we could not even get medicines! They denied us the basic human needs - to get any supplies inside the aadheenam. Which lawkeeper will do this? It was killing us, keeping us as their hostages in the name of protection and curfew.

Sri Nithya Ambananda Swami (Chief Priest at the temple) recalls, "WE didn't even have a matchbox to light the aarthi lamp for Nithyanandeshwara and Nithyanandeshwari (presiding deities of the the Bengaluru Aadheenam)."

The Temple Monastery Community of Bengaluru Aadheenam under Siege by the State Police

Superintendent of State Police, Anupam Agarwal supervises the temple-raid.

Administrative units of the temple monastery complex illegally SEALED