DECODING THE GURU
As a student of sociology, brought up in Gujarati culture I always wondered about existence and influence of gurus, pir and babas. Some iconic personalities raised to level of divinity and worshiped as god is still an avenue of my quest. People like Ramdev Pir, Jalaram Bapa, Sai Baba, Sitaram Bapa, Bhathiji Maharaj, Swaminarayan, etc. appeared during colonial times and are today praised as god. Till date, people like Pandurang Athaval, Swami Chinmayanand, Dada Bhagwan, Shiv Baba, Stya Shree Sai Baba, Sadguru, Shree Shree Ravi Sankar, Osho, etc. are popular across country as a god’s men who are leading various sectarian cults based on Hindu doctrines. Recent outrage followed by arrest of Guru Ram Rahim Inshan and outrage followed before few years after arrest of Asharam Bapu presents an interesting grounds for sociological interpretations of process of legitimizing such bigoted institutions. Fortunately, evidences recorded by my favourite mythologist Devdutt Pattnaik served as great