31 Oct 2012
M. Jagathalapradapan and Ma. Gouthaman, two vested interests, filed two separate petitions against Madurai Aadheenam and Paramahamsa Nithyananda, claiming that HIS appointment as the 293rd Pontiff of Madurai Aadheenam Mutt, the world’s oldest religious organization, was illegal and requesting the State of Tamil Nadu and the Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments Department to remove Paramahamsa Nithyananda as the successor. Both petitions were dismissed in court.
Arunagirinatha Paramsariyar Swamigal, the 292 Pontiff of Madurai Aadheenam, countered that their petitions have no merit as he has absolute power to appoint his own successor. He further states,
“The 10th respondent [Paramahamsa Nithyananda] was born at Thiruvannamalai in a community which is also one of the communities from which successors can be appointed as per the usage of the Mutt and he had spiritual yearning from his very young age. He had been serving under several known and unknown yogis at Thiruvannamalai. He left his family at the age of 17 and went on “Parivarajahan” [spiritual wandering on foot]. During the said period, he stayed at Ramakrishna Mutt at Chennia and Calcutta to learn about the values of Hinduism. Later, he had travelled all over India seeking religious and spiritual enlightenment and he had established a spiritual and yoga organization called “Nithyananda Dhyanapeedam” at Bidadi, Ramanagar District, Karnataka, with a noble intention to spread the values of Hinduism to the common man around the world. In the year 2002-2003, 10th respondent [Paramahamsa Nithyananda] came to Madurai and stayed att Mutt in order to learn more about the religious truths and the principles of Saivism. From the first visit of the 10th respondent [Paramahamsa Nithyananda] to the Madurai Adheenam Mutt, he became the disiciple of the Mutt and follower of Madurai Adheenam. He is a good orator and has given thousands of religious discourses around the world and specifically preached about Shiva Sutra for more than 100 hours.”
See full documents here.