Sacred relationship with my Guru was falsely🔗

sexualised by media

-Ma Nithya Preetananda Swami

I was kept under lock for 48 hours without food and water. My father planned to put me in prison if I resisted marriage. The Media instigated hatred in the masses by sexualizing my relationship with my Guru.

I am a Poorna Sanyasi (Hindu Monk) of Nithyananda order. Today, this is how I am known to the world. My name is Ma Nithya Preetananda Swami. When I decided to follow the path of Sannyas (renunciation) to find the divine, I was opposed by my parents, relatives and society. It was as if my roots were not allowing me to grow higher.

In the year 2005, my family got connected to a young popular Hindu Guru, Paramahamsa Nithyananda from Bangalore, South India. They used to go and attend various meditation programs and were immensely benefited spiritually. They were sincerely devoted to Him. After a few months, they wanted me and my sister to go and meet ‘Swamiji’ but we did not have spiritual inclination. Somehow, our parents cajoled us to go and attend a 10 days program in His Aadheenam. My sister and I went back there in July 2006 for a three months program ‘Ananda Yogam’. The desire to never depart from our beloved Guru started taking roots during the course of that time and we discovered ‘Sannyas’ (Hindu Monkhood). Immense trust on Swamiji and my inner realization of my life’s purpose were so in tune, that we both took initiation for ‘ Brahmacharaya’ ( First level Sanyas Initiation) spontaneously.

When this news reached our parents that we had taken vows of monkhood, they were taken aback. We never experienced our father being so against something we wanted to do in life. However, this time he was adamant to bring us back from the Aadheenam. I then realised the gap which had crept in between us and our parents.

They could not understand us, or even if they tried, the social pressure of having traditionally married daughters was too much to take for them. Within four months we succumbed to the pressure of returning home, after my father complained to higher officials in the state against 'Swamiji' in January, 2007. Their love for social reputation was clearly the priority over our happiness or the relationship they cherished with their Guru. Three years passed. Suddenly, one fine day Swamiji visited our home and our parents also welcomed Him. I guess time had healed them. Swamiji's divine presence in the home gave them courage to support us in our spiritual journey. They agreed to send us back to the Aadheenam in August 2009.

On the dark day of March 2, 2010 around 8 pm a fake video about Swamiji with a south Indian actress got aired on all major TV channels. We were clueless about what was going on. The next day, a violent mob jumped our main gate and attacked us. They burnt our living areas and beat our sanyasis (Monk).

The enemies where illegally moving around in the aadheenam. There was a continuous mob threat and police would make sexual comments and leer at us. We feared for our safety. In this crisis situation, women and children were asked to leave the Aadheenam as we were being attacked. We returned to our pre-monastic home temporarily. After our arrival, no one breached the topic of what was going on in the aadheenam. However, gradually the discussions started around the video and media allegations. One and a half months later, while watching TV, I saw Swamiji was illegally arrested.

Nakkeeran magazine: 03-06 July, 2010 edition, Defamatory article where each word was designed to sell our dignity to its readers!

My pre-monastic uncle was threatened and blackmailed by this tabloid magazine to not support or follow Swamiji else it would publish a defamatory article which would destroy the family. I assured him not to worry and reminded him that our Guru is powerful enough to protect us.

In a few days Nakkheeran (an erotic tabloid magazine) published a defamatory article about me and my sister. The article dated 03-06 July, 2010 had the headline -"Swami has special liking towards me - Blabbered Nithya Preetananda". In a day I became the talk of the town for the wrong reasons. We had been having a tough time facing the questions from relatives, neighbours and other acquaintances. Wherever I went, people would stare at me. My family decided to take me to Kanyakumari, our hometown for a few days until the heat of situation settled down. The destructive impact of the Media was felt in my life, the lives of my parents and immediate family. I dedicated my life for the service of humanity, in return my very chastity was denigrated. Each word written in the defamatory article sold my dignity to its readers.

One day, on the way to temple with my parents, I heard a lewd comment from a local mob, “O, you can only be with your Swamiji, why can’t you be with us too!”. I felt extremely humiliated. All I wanted was some respite from the continuous trauma of being attacked.

On reaching home, I cried my heart out. The most sacred relationship any human being can have, Guru-Disciple relationship, was being perverted and sexualised by media for the masses.

In spite of all this, I was determined to return to Aadheenam - a decision which my father felt was bringing dishonour to the family. Feeling marriage was the best option for us, they were hellbent on ensuring that we agree to marriage. Our relatives were invited to help in convincing us to get married and forget our spiritual aspirations. However, we were clear that sanyas and the aadheenam were where we belonged.

Our family saw no other option and locked us up without food and water in a room for 3 days. I sat in this room exhausted; I felt emotionally and psychologically broken. The culmination of all the trauma of media abuse, of my dignity being ripped apart, and now the violence of my family was beyond my capacity to handle. I fell in and out of consciousness during those three days. During those weak moments I realised the severity of the situation - that it was not easy for me to escape this. So, I chose to wait for the right time.

My father threatened to put me behind bars if I didn’t get married!

We returned from our hometown in a month. I realised that it was high time for me to escape from home. My family was relentlessly looking for a match for marriage. One night I packed a small bag of clothes and silently escaped from home. I had gone barely few hundred meters away, when my uncle saw me and brought me back. Now my intentions were clear to my family. They threatened,“You have to get married otherwise we will give police complaint against Swamiji for kidnapping you!”. I asked him, I’m here in the house how can you blame Swamiji”. Out of desperation, my father shouted, “ We will lock you inside and tell that you are kidnapped by Swamiji.” If my father was saying this, I knew he would do it. Our family was very influential in the community. Police would have believed their words. Later, I

got to know that my family had planned to put me in prison for six months, believing fear could change my mind.