“ Maharajji zaroor wapas aayenge [The saint will certainly return],” says Swami Vishalananda, spokesperson of the Divya Jyoti Jagriti Sansthan, at the ashram where its spiritual head, Ashutosh Maharaj, has been lying in “ samadhi ” — motionless and deathly still — since January 29.
The ashram stands in the middle of fields, much of the land owned by the Sansthan. Outside, the police stand guard. Ashutosh Maharaj, who many now believe is dead, still enjoys Z-category security granted when he was on the hit-list of Sikh secessionists.
His followers, who set up here the first of his 350 ashrams about three decades ago, are waiting for a resurrection of their leader. The body has been lying in a freezer all these months.
Barricaded premisesThe media, accused by the Sansthan of carrying out a smear campaign, has been barred from entering the ashram after the Punjab and Haryana High Court ruled on November 1 that the cremation be held within a fortnight. The ashram premises and the area leading up to it are barricaded.
However, making an exception, Vishalananda showed this correspondent around the complex.
He dismissed the comparisons being drawn with the violence at self-styled godman Rampal’s Hisar ashram in Haryana last month, saying there are few armed supporters here.
The followers eat together in the community kitchen, gather at the congregation hall, sit on the lawns and farm in the fields.
The complex boasts an Ayurveda manufacturing unit-cum-dispensary and a cowshed with seven indigenous breeds. “Their number has risen sharply from just seven to over 750 in the past four years,” says Vishalananda proudly noting that the cattle yield up to 25 litres of milk daily.
The Sansthan administration has “postponed” the organisation’s biennial function, which is traditionally organised on a 40-hectare plot and draws followers in their lakhs, awaiting “the return of Maharaj.” “We last organised it two years ago,” Vishalananda says pointing to a framed photograph of Maharaj in one of the ashram offices. “We will next hold it when Maharaj returns and that will happen soon.”
‘Crucial pleas rejected’The DJJS maintains that the High Court had not accepted two crucial pleas while delivering the order. Puran Singh, who claimed to be Maharaj’s driver, sought an investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the death; Dilip Jha, who claimed to be Ashutosh Maharaj’s son, demanded that he be allowed to perform the last rites. “The issue of conducting the cremation was not even part of any petition. We would be questioning that too,” Vishalananda said.
“Canard is being spread by our rivals. Maharaj had once complained about money laundering by another spiritual leader and former Union Minister, who has funded the legal campaign against us. Even the issue of inheritance was raised when all the properties, in fact, belong to the society.”
“We want a 30-day stay on the order and will be filing a Letter Patents Appeal before the High Court on December 11 so that the matter is heard by a Division Bench. As an organisation, we will be exhausting our legal options. The issue of samadhi , its history and the right to perform it would also be taken up. Even what constitutes cremation will come up for discussion.”
In pursuance of the High Court’s directions, the State administration and the police have constituted a committee of district officials under the Deputy Commissioner of Jalandhar for maintaining law and order. The flow of followers in and out of the ashram, around which local police presence have set up camp, is being monitored.
For the time being though, it appears that the matter will be resolved peacefully.
