24 April, 2017
Sri Nithya Yogaswarupananda candidly tells his experience of living in Trishulam Aadheenam (a temple monastery complex) for one year, as a vicious unforeseen battle was started there by Sun TV and Hindu extremist militant groups. For one year, he alone faced the initial abuse with a brave face, standing for the Hindu teachings of His Divine Holiness Paramahamsa Nithyananda.
Their purpose was clear: His Divine Holiness Paramahamsa Nithyananda sent a team of disciples to build a free hospital, gurukul school and anna dhaan, a free food service, inspiring them to immediately start serving all the locals in the Trishulam area, with a long term goal of providing medical care and education to the community. In his infinite compassion, Paramahamsa Nithyananda told them that money was no object, and encouraged them to build using only the best materials. Unfortunately, though, his plans were savagely thwarted by a group of local mobsters fed by Hindu extremist militant groups and aethist groups. who wanted to grab that land for themselves, in the guise of drunkard encroachers. These mobsters, who spared no second thought to trashing the land and physically attacking their perceived opponent, barred delivery trucks from bringing building materials, threatened violence against workers, plumbers and construction crews who were hired to develop infrastructure there, and worst of all, they acted on their threats.
“I was weak with famine and dehydration,” says Sri Nithya Yogaswarupananda, who was the sole rightful occupant of the land at that time. “I had enough money to buy whatever I wanted: the best food, barrels of water, but no matter how much I ordered, not a single load was allowed to reach me. They didn’t care whether I lived or died; they only wanted to continue to trash the land they stole from our Sangha.”
The Trishulam Adheenam property has been in the family of Ma Nithya Bhaktikananda Swami for generations, and was donated to Swamiji by her paternal grandmother. Swamiji immadiately blessed the land to become a sacred space, and when the deities were brought and installed in the temporary temple, even the encroachers came to the opening ceremony and nicely ate the blessed food that was served.
“One day, they ate our prasadam,” recalls Sri Nithya Bhaktimayananda Swami, “and the next day, they returned to thrash us, threatening to rape the women and kill the men. Police offered no protection; media stood around with their cameras, but did nothing. Is there no end to Sun TV’s attack? We are seen as perverts because of the morphed video they published… and now we are pushed out of our home, half starved and beaten bloody because of their insatiable greed.”
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Sri Nithya Yogaswarupananda (right) in Trishulam Aadheenam, speaking with fellow Nithyananda disciple, Sri Nithya Yogamayananda
Sri Nithya Yogaswarupananda shares, in his own words:
I hold a double masters degree, graduated in chemistry and yoga. In 2007, I left my agricultural background and family to join Nithyananda Peetham. I took initiation as a Bauthika Brahmachari (training Hindu monk) and began serving the mission of His Divine Holiness Paramahamsa Nithyananda, who blessed me to be in Trishulam Adheenam, taking care of the security of the campus. There, I found myself all alone. There was a damaged hut built for security in the night which was actually a material godown meant for storing pipes, a tank and construction materials. The small shed has no electricity, no bathroom, and not even a door or drainage facility. I had to walk 2 kilometers just to go to the restroom, and every time I took bath.
The hut was my only source of shade when the sun was too bright and my only shelter when it rained. In the peak daylight hours, the heat was scorching, and my choice was to either fry in the sun or boil in the tin oven. Of course, the gang of encroachers wouldn’t allow the delivery of an air conditioner, or the installation of electricity for it to run. During rainfall, water would pour in from all directions, leaking from the top and also rising from under the floor below. That means, my life was lived between the extreme heat and dank wet; during the monsoon season, I lived huddled on a single chair in the only dry corner of the place.
The entire land was used by the encroachers as an open toilet; I had to wade through their urine and feces, and dumped waste, every time I went out. They threw liquor bottles, cigarette butts, condoms and other dirty trash everywhere, so cleaning was not just harsh manual labor, but also a disgusting job. The land became a sales ground for illegal drug sales, alcohol abuse and even prostitution.
Their abuse moved from vandalism of the land to physical violence in October of 2015. One night, at around 8 pm, four people, a gang leader named Viji and his three associates, came and threatened me.
They asked me, “Who are you? Why are you here? Who asked to be here?”
When I told them the land belongs to my Guru, and I was sent to develop it into a temple complex with a hospital, school and free food service, they spat in my face and kept hitting me.
Finally, before they left my bloodied and bruised, they gave me this warning:
“If you stay here, you have to listen to us, you have to keep quiet and obey our rules.”
After this, I didn’t know what to do. Obeying them meant being an accessory to their crimes, and failing to fulfill my Guru’s mission. Disobeying meant they would beat me again, or worse.
One week later, for my protection and to push the project further, one more adheenavasi came to stay with me. That time, one load of sand for construction, belonging to a neighbor, was unloaded dangerously close to our hut, nearly trapping us inside, and making it even more difficult to go about our work. Obviously, we objected to this sand dump. Unaware of the danger in the situation, my fellow resident called the goons and asked for it to be removed. Instead of doing the neighborly act of removing their load, in response, they again threatened us, this time demanding that we immediately evacuate the place.
They gave the police a false complaint about us, spreading ficticious statements that we had dangerous weapons with us, and that we were conducting human sacrifices and black magic. This absurd lie was absolutely untrue! We lived an authentic Hindu lifestyle with a daily routine that includes yoga, puja and other sattvic activities. But of course, these Hindu-phobic goons could not tolerate our non-violent worship, and wanted the land for their own illegal activities, so it was in their vested interest to move us out. Besides that, they were compelled to attack as brutally as possible by Sun TV, who had attempted to take over the land from many years back, and who is always after our Swamiji.
Within a few days of the complaint being filed, a police inspector came. Without knowing the reality of our predicament or bothering to find it out, he gave us a warning. My companion disciple at that point had to go out on another assignment, and I was alone again. For one year, I slept with one eye open, constantly afraid that they would again thrash me, unable to move even an inch in the direction of the plans Swamiji had given me.
Finally one day, I decided enough was enough, and got a basic 8 by 20 feet container to improve my living conditions and start building the aadheenam around me.
When it reached the place in a loud and large JCB, the mobsters incited by hatred fed from Hindu extremist militant groups gathered and started asking what it was and why it was coming.
I told them it was for me to live in, that my current shed was leaking and rotten, but they tried to stop it from being unloaded onto the land. Again, other disciples had to come and help me, and after what felt like endless arguments, threats and being roughed up, I finally got it settled.
Though I got a container, I could not fix a drainage pipe connection for bathroom drainage. because when a contractor came to dig a pit, P TC Murugesan, Anbukumar and Viji came to that spot, and harassed him. They abused the worker verbally and threatened that if he continued the work they would kill him. Unwilling to sacrifice his life for the work, he took his equipment and left.
They also abused me and threatened me once again. They demanded that I leave and take the container with me. But, I held my ground and stayed put.
For some time, they went quiet, and I thought my troubles might actually be over. I didn’t have running water, or plumbing, or electricity, let alone wifi or other modern luxuries, but at least I wasn’t getting beaten and yelled at every day. Everything went normally for a little more than 8 months… but that was just the calm before their real storm.