They declared me a shaitan, says ex-student of Sanatan Sanstha founder

Dr Jayant Balaji Athavale was a brilliant doctor says rationalist Shyam Manav president of the All Indian Andhshradha Nirmulan Samiti ANS in the same breath that he says that Athavale used the Ericksonian hypnosis technique as a tool to successfully influence and control the minds of Sanatan sadhaksAlso read This is an international conspiracy Sanatan Sanstha spokespersonShyam Manav former student of Sanatan Sanstha founder Dr JB Athavale says he began distancing himself from his teacher in the 1990s PICPradeep DhivarEver since the September 16 arrest of Sameer Gaikwad a 32yearold sadhak at the Goaheadquartered Sanatan Bharatiya Sanskruti Sanstha in relation with the February murder of Kolhapurbased rationalist and CPI leader Govind Pansare attention has been focused on the Sanstha which was founded in the early 1990s Its allegedly cultlike structure and antinational activities are in the limelight even as a political battle continues on whether the Sanstha should be declared a terrorist organisation and banned It has been at various times in the past 10 years accused of attacking rationalists either physically or through its paper Sanatan Prabhat planting bombs at a Navi Mumbai cinema where Jodha Akbar was being screened and at a Thane theatre where controversial play Amhi Panchpute was being staged and causing a blast at Margao Goa in 2009 the day before Diwali The once ldquofringerdquo organisation is now the focal point of a national debate on militant Hindutva organisationsInterestingly Athavale whose ideologies continue to form the core of the Sanstha has been missing from the public eye for over seven years ldquoHe is unwell Even I havenrsquot met him for oneandahalf yearsrdquo says 40yearold Abhay Vartak a science graduate from Pune who joined the Sanstha in 1996 and rose through the ranks to become its spokespersonThe Panvel ashram of Sanatan SansthaLike Vartak Manav too started out as a young admirer of Athavalersquos skills The 64yearold who now divides his time between Mumbai and Pune is a hypnotherapist and conducts workshops for the general public In fact he learnt the trade from Athavale who returned to India with his wife in the late 1970s after a stint in London where he trained in Ericksonian hypnosis mdash a technique founded by Milton H Erickson an American psychiatrist Because Athavale would practice hypnotherapy for treating patients Manav would often refer patients to him However by the 1990s those he referred would return to him upset ldquoTheyrsquod tell me that he had advised them to please their kul devta family deity if they wished to rid themselves of health niggles They would ask me why I a rationalistantisuperstition activist had sent them to someone like himrdquo These responses says Manav were the first signs of the change in Athavale Gradually he distanced himself from his former teacher ldquoI was friends with himhellipWersquod discuss religion and spirituality at length but he seemed to believe more in divine powers than physical and psychological medicinerdquo he says adding ldquoOnce after I had challenged and exposed several babas by using scientific methods I visited Dr Athavale He meditated for a while and told me that I held a grudge against a certain community because of negative energies that were transferred to me from my earlier liferdquoAlso read Pansare murder accused wanted to take holy dip to repent for sinsManav says he was shocked when Arun Chaphekar a magician told him that Athavale would mesmerize people with chamatkars divine tricks ldquoChaphekar told me that Dr Athavale could vibrate a clock placed on a table Incidentally such clocks were available at a high price at shops that deal with magic equipmentrdquoSpeaking of Athavalersquos brand of hypnotism and speculations that he had used them to control sadhaks Manav says ldquoPeople who are subjected to amnesia do not remember what they have done This may be the reason that the police find it difficult to seek confessions from the suspects affiliated with the Sanstha The sadhaks when confronted talk only of their dream of creating a divine world or Hindu RashtrardquoDr Athavale illustration Uday MohiteInterestingly Erickson himself is said to have believed that his role was to actively change patients mdash to use hypnosis and posthypnotic amnesia to help them restructure their thinkingA psychological evaluation test conducted by the CBI on Gaikwad last week revealed that he was deceptive and misleading investigators by providing false informationThis is ldquodoublespeakrdquo says Vikram Bhave the sadhak who was in jail for nearly five years in association with the 2008 Thane blast Currently out on bail the 34yearold Std X dropout meets us at the Fort office of his lawyer advocate Sanjiv Punalekar ldquoOn one hand rationalists claim that itrsquos superstitious talk to say that forces and energies control people and on the other hand they accuse us of indulging in what they claim doesnrsquot existrdquoManav Shyam says Arun Chaphekar a magician told him that Athavale could vibrate a clock placed on the table ldquoIncidentally such clocks were available at very high costs at shops that deal with magic equipmentrdquo says Manav PICPradeep DhivarVartak rubbishes claims of mass hypnosis saying itrsquos only selfhypnosis or ldquoselfinstructionrdquo Sadhaks are instructed in doing the ldquonam japrdquo where they meditate on the name of their kul devtadevi till the point that they reach a state of permanent calmFor any suggestive hypnosis to work says Paulomi Pandit a trainer with the Mumbaibased Institute of Clinical Hypnosis And Related Sciences the person who has to be hypnotised has to be willing Pandit who is offering an independent opinion in that she is not affiliated either with the Sanstha or any rationalist does however add ldquoThere are ways in which the filter of a person who has to be hypnotised can been broken In a meditativerelaxed state whatever is suggested even once can remain with the person foreverrdquoThe Kamble connectWhen he meets us at his Bhandup East residence 25yearold Malhar Kamble agrees to talk He even lets us photograph his home and building but would rather not pose for pictures himself ldquoEver since the Sangli cops arrested Jyoti the buildingrsquos residents and our landlord have become scared But I told them that Jyoti is not involved and that the police are just trying to work towards shutting down the Sansthardquo he saysOn September 16 police officials from Sangli district of Maharashtra who are investigating the Pansare murder landed at the Kamblersquos residence to detain Jyoti a graphic designer Investigations they revealed had shown that immediately after Pansarersquos killing Gaikwad had had a conversation with Jyoti in which he had ldquojokingly said that he had killed Pansarerdquo The police of course believed that it was a serious statementldquoBut what has my sister done to be detainedrdquo asks Malhar adding that he was at work when the police arrived and picked up Jyoti on the pretext of investigation ldquoHowever since then I have not seen her nor have I heard from her All the updates we get are from news portalsrdquoMalhar denies any suggestion of a relationship between Jyoti and Gaikwad as suggested in some media ldquoThey would talk often yes But it was only related to Sanstha work Whenever any ritual took place in the city Gaikwad would call up my sister to help organise itrdquoThe Kamblesrsquo association with the Sanstha started in 1999 when Malhar and Jyotirsquos father was told by doctors that he wouldnrsquot survive the cancer he was battling ldquoThrough friends and family we came to know about the Sanstha We took our father there and he was curedrdquo The recovery made permanent believers of the Kambles The violence debateVartakrsquos beatific smile remains in place through a rushed 30minute meeting at this paperrsquos office last Thursday evening He says he thought we were meeting for chai not an official interview But he is nevertheless prepared for all we throw at him Even why Gaikawad mdash whose police custody was on Saturday extended by two days by the Kolhapur Magistrate Court mdash has an army of 31 lawyers to back his case ldquoWe provided just one lawyer our official one The rest have volunteered their servicesrdquo he saysSanatan Sanstha member Vikram Bhave left who was convicted in the 2008 Gadkari Rangayatan auditorium blast in Thane is currently out on bail He is seen here with his advocate Sanjeev Punalekar PICSuresh KKGaikwad who holds a diploma in electrical engineering is a resident of Sangli and runs cellphone shops in Mumbai and Sangli mdash this the Sanstha argues is why it should not be surprising that he was carrying two mobile phones at the time of his arrest and why police later recovered over 20 mobile handset and 51 SIM cards from his residence Gaikwad who is unmarried has been a sadhak at the Sanstha since 1998But sadhaks argues therersquos little evidence to connect him with Pansarersquos murderldquoYes we were against the ideologies of Pansare and Dabholkarrdquo says Vartak who joined the Sanstha in 1996 his wife and parents are also followers ldquobut that doesnrsquot mean we have murdered them We protested against them through RTIs and defamation cases why would we take the violent routerdquoAccusations of violence however are many While the Pansare family says the rationalist received several threats mdash one post the murder of Dabholkar threatened him with similar consequences mdash they donrsquot name the Sanstha or its affiliatesIt is suspected that the Sanstha may also be linked to the 2013 murder of Pune resident and rationalist Dr Narendra Dabholkar who was killed while on a morning walkManav meanwhile says hersquos been on the receiving end of their attacks ever since he began opposing their practices and supported the Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and other Inhuman Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act 2013 In 2006 while talking at Punersquos Bal Gandharva Natyamandir he says ldquoSuddenly a person came up to me on stage and before I could sense what was happening he choked me with a powerful clutch One of my feisty colleagues rescued me that fateful dayrdquo Manav says he was declared a lsquoshaitanrsquo who warranted destruction for the sake of dharma ldquoTheir modus operandi involves building up pressure on organisers to stall my lectures write against me and my organisers and report us to the police on the pretext that we are creating a law and order problem in the name of religion following which the police would direct us to cancel lecturesrdquo he says adding that similar methods were used in the case of Dabholkar and Pansare tooA relative of Dabholkar says that soon after his murder Sanatan Prabhat the Sanstharsquos mouthpiece carried an opinion piece by Athavale which said that Dr Dabholkar got a good death ldquoIt was far better than dying with any disease lying on bed sic at this agerdquoThe insiderrsquos takeThe core ideology of the Sanstha mdash that a Hindu rashtra should be established in India with Bhagvad Gita as the constitution mdash believe most is at the heart of its conflict with everyone else And also why it needs to be deemed a terrorist organisation and bannedDelhibased investigative journalist Rana Ayyub who in 2009 entered the Goa HQ of the Sanstha staying there for five hours on the pretext of wanting to join it because she was disillusioned by western culture says ldquoAmong the many categories of people it listed as the enemies of their objectives prime were Hindus who did not believe in Sanatan Dharma For instance rationalistsrdquo While there Ayyub says she also saw former Miss India Sharon Clarke ldquoHowever when I wanted to talk to her they said she wouldnrsquot speak Even the children I wanted to speak to would not speak unless a senior sadhak was around theyrsquod then reply in a mere yes or nordquo Ayyub says everyone she saw on the ground floor mdash she wasnrsquot allowed anywhere else mdash seemed to be in a state of tranceAlso read I am not worried for my life threats are not new to me says senior journalist Nikhil WagleIn 2011 four individuals together filed a PIL in the Bombay High Court making similar allegations against the Sanstha Of these three were parents who alleged that their daughters all in their 20s had one day ldquodisappearedrdquo Investigations revealed that they had walked into the Panvel ashram of the Sanstha The Sanstha they said didnrsquot allow them to meet anyone A rejoinder to the PIL said that the daughters had met the parents at a police station later stating that they were adults and had chosen to stay with the Sanstha The parents however argued that during this meeting other officials of the Sanstha were around them and that the meeting and their statements didnrsquot reflect free willVartak rubbishes the allegation ldquoPeople are free to walk in and out How can you force someone to stay with yourdquoMystery shrouds the Sanstha Especially now since outsiders ie the press isnrsquot allowed past the gates But Bhave says a typical day within is spent in sadhanaOriginally from Pen where his father practices ayurvedic medicine Bhave has been religious since childhood ldquoAt the Sanstha we start our day at 6 am with exercise At 9 am we have a meeting with the respective department we work for I was with the audiovisual department We used to work till night and then after 8 pm we carry on with community work like cleaning of toilets We mostly spent our time in sadhanardquo said BhaveAsk him if he can make a bomb considering the 2006 conviction and he laughs ldquoTill date I have only held an air gun Apart from that I know nothing about arms and ammunitionrdquoPoliticking over faithThe political debate around the Sanstha is as varied as it is complex For instance Raghunath Kamble General Secretary of Communist Party of Indiarsquos Kolhapur unit says Gaikwadrsquos arrest by the Sangli police came due to pressure from Karnataka investigationsGovind Pansare rationalist and CPI leader who was killed on February 16 2015 while on a morning walk in Kolhapur where he livedThe Karnataka police he says were close to arresting Gaikwad in the investigation of the murder of rationalist Professor M M Kalburgi in AugustSpeaking to SUNDAY midday Kamble says ldquoThe day Pansare was killed the Sanatan Sanstha office in Kolhapurrsquos Shahu Puri Fourth Lane was immediately shifted in the middle of the night They shut the office and fled taking out everything from there Even then the police took much time to arrest the accused because there was a lot of pressure from the ruling BJP government Now that Karnataka state police ruled by the Congress was close to arresting Gaikwad the police immediately picked him up so that he did not spill anything more to Karnataka policerdquo Gaikwad claims Kamble is getting VIP treatment in the lockupRaghunath Kamble General Secretary of CPIrsquos Kolhapur unit says Gaikwadrsquos arrest by the Sangli police came due to pressure from Karnataka investigationsBack in Goa the political voice that staunchly opposes any ban on the Sanstha comes from an MLA of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party Ramakrishna DhavalikarDhavalikar represents the Madkai constituency in which the village of Ramnathi and the ashram of Sanatan Sanstha fall At the time of the Margao blasts Dhavalikarrsquos party was a partner in a coalition government with the Congress and he was transport minister There have been allegations that the then chief minister Digambar Kamat sabotaged an inquiry into the bomb blasts due to pressure from DhavlikarDhavalikar is now PWD Minister in a coalition government led by the BJP His brother Deepak Dhavlikar who represents the neighbouring constituency of Priol in Goarsquos Hindu heartland is also a minister Both ministers and their families are involved with various religious organisations in Ponda taluka area and their wives are said to be lsquosadhaksrsquo with the Sanstha ldquoWe always help our Hindu lsquodharmarsquo and culturerdquo says Dhavalikar who hit the headlines last year after he spoke against bikinis mini skirts and the pub culture in Goa ldquoWe have seen that they Sanstha are helping promote culture and that is the reason we are associated with them just to have a good working relationship with themrdquoHe defends the release of government advertisements to the Sanstharsquos publications ldquoThere are some events like pujas for which they come to seek advertisement from the government and as per natural justice just like for other magazines we give them some advertisementsrdquoHe hits a discordant note with fellow MLA Vishnu Surya Wagh who has demanded a ban on the Sanstha following the Pansare murder allegations ldquoWhen the Sri Ram Sena has been banned by the state government for its activities outside the state there is every reason to ban the Sanstha as its headquarter is in Goa and its activities are now well knownrdquo he tells SUNDAY midday However for now the Goa government has said that a move to ban the organisation would be prematureThe Maharashtra government seems to agree Minister of State home Ram Shinde says ldquoLetrsquos wait for the outcome of a criminal inquiry Letrsquos see what this probe leads us to We cannot do anything at this stage without any clinching evidence against the organisation in questionrdquoItrsquos a legal standpoint that Punalekar would be happy withldquoThe people who are asking for a ban on the Sanstha arenrsquot legally literate A ban can be put only if the Sanstha is waging a war against the nation which we arenrsquot The rationals were defaming Hindu religion and hence we were against them We didnrsquot kill anyone we never threatened journalist Nikhil Waghle Why should we be bannedrdquomdash With inputs from Vinay Dalvi Chaitarly Deshmukh Joseph Zuzarte and Gitanjali Chandrasekharan