I was held hostage for 15 Hours, I didn’t move to save Myself from Killers🔗

Three disciples of His Divine Holiness Paramahamsa Nithyananda were attacked and held hostage in their own home within the Thondaimandala Aadheenam as hired attackers tried to break down their doors with the intent of ending their lives. They hid under towels defenceless against violent intruders.

On the 30 July, 2017 it was a morning like any other at Thondaimandala Aadheenam, however strange noises from outside alerted there was strange activity happening behind their walls. Sri Nithya Pranapriyananda, Ma Nithya Jnanapriyananda, and her brother, N.S. Prabhakaran, were there taking care of the current Pontiff’s health, and supporting him to maintain the property and keep up the religious rituals.

“On this morning, there were peculiar movements around the house, and we all felt suspicious,” recalls Sri Pranapriya. “We rushed to the window and saw strange people lurking around, surveying the property and scoping out the area. They were carefully eyeing everyone who entered or left the structure, and had

vehicles shadowing them.”

One of the trespassers was Raja T. Vijaykumar, a member of a group called Seikilar Panpattu Kazhagam, one of the many Hindu groups under the umbrella of Thondaimandala Mutt. The previous day, he started spreading false rumours that Paramahamsa Nithyananda and his disciples had kidnapped the current Pontiff (whom in reality they were taking care of and serving), and were holding him hostage with intent to take over the properties of the ancient mutt.

Through his heinous allegation, mob hatred was incited against the disciples of Paramahamsa Nithyananda with the mob surrounding the mutt - some of them on foot and others in vehicles patrolling the area. The three caretakers inside the house decided to stay inside and keep themselves safe. They locked the doors, switched off all fans and lights, and remained totally still to avoid detection. Thankfully, at that time, the Pontiff was travelling and was safely out of the campus.

The house had a traditional courtyard, and from 3:30 p.m. they were huddled in one corner of it, next to the temple. By 5:00 p.m., they heard people attempting to break the locks and enter the premises. Filled with terror, they hid themselves under towels that were left outside, which miraculously kept them from the infiltrators’ view. They could clearly hear what the invaders were saying: “break down the doors, they must be inside!” Shaking under flimsy towels, they could hear these attackers scraping the wooden doors with metal rods.

“I still remember the bloodlust in their voices”, recalls Sri Pranapriya. “They were loudly describing how they would beat and kill us. I remember shaking and feeling sick in my stomach. I was hiding under a towel, and I had nothing to defend myself with, there was no way I would survive. I thought of my wife, my brother, my mother, and I prayed like I have never done before.”

The attackers did everything they could do to break down the wooden double door pictured below. Behind the curtain of towels, Sri Pranapriya found courage to make a call to the secretary of Paramahamsa Nithyananda appraising the situation in frantic whispers. It is a miracle he was understood. The secretary conveyed back that His Divine Holiness Paramahamsa Nithyananda has blessed not to worry and that the door will not budge. Miraculously, the door remained intact: Sri Pranapriya had to suppress the sounds of fits of coughing that would seize him unexpectedly. He felt like collapsing from the bad cold and fever he had been struggling with. Next to him others tried to suppress fearful sobs. The disciples were huddled together under those towels, not moving, barely breathing, without a sip of water or a morsel of food, for the next 15 hours, not knowing whether they would be found and killed.

When the attempted murderers finally left, the three could still hear armed men patrolling the premises, and only at 6:00 a.m. the following morning, after the cars were heard exiting the property, they decided it was safe to enough come out. Sri Nithya Sundareshwara Maharaj, a monastic disciple of Paramahamsa Nithyananda (ma Jnanapriya’s son), rushed in to retrieve his mother and the others, and hurried them out of the house.

“It was the most terrifying and horrible night of my life. None of us could have expected this, and no one should ever have to go through the trauma of hiding from brutal attackers who are plotting to murder. I really thought I was going to give us away by coughing, and we would be bludgeoned to death,” says Sri Nithya Pranapriya.

This suspenseful episode reads like the plot of a horror movie. It is called ‘mob lynching’ where mob hatred is incited and the mob will lynch the targeted person to the point of assassination.

Hiding in terror while listening to violent attackers bash down doors, anticipating a cruel death at any moment. This trauma was for no fault of theirs; simply because they took up the care of Thondaimandala Aadheenam, a Hindu heritage monastery (Mutt). Despite the fact that this break-in and attempted-murder is blatantly illegal, till date no action has been taken against the guilty criminal mob groups, although complaints were filed. The political clout and vested financial interests of the attackers who nearly killed three innocent people should be no reason to stop justice. Such is the plight of Paramahamsa Nithyananda’s disciples, who dedicate their lives to preserving and reviving Sanatana Hindu Dharma, risking their very lives, every day.