Asaram asked to leave Naini ashram in the 1960s for being ‘too attached to worldly pleasures’
[timesofindia.indiatimes.com]
[timesofindia.indiatimes.com]
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Nainital: According to inmates of an ashram situated on the outskirts of Nainital, convicted self-styled godman Asaram resided in their ashram for almost four years in the 1960s before he was thrown out since he was found to be “too much attached to worldly pleasures.” The controversial godman arrived at the Swami Leela Shah ashram situiated at Hanumangarhi near Nainital in 1964 along with his wife, according to Chabbal Das Tejwani, 75, the present administrator of the ashram .”He was found to spend most of his time organising wrestling matches and going sight-seeing with his wife. Since he didn’t seem keen on following the discipline of a spiritual path, he was asked to leave in 1968,” Tejwani told TOI.
The ashram’s founder, Swami Leela Shah who hailed from Sindh in Pakistan and had migrated to India after Partition, was an ardent campaigner agsint the dowry system and proponent of women empowerment as per Tejwani. “Asaram wanted to be initiated as Swamiji’s disciple but Swamiji refused. He later asked him to leave the ashram since Asaram was too much involved in material pursuits,” Tejwani, who has been managing the ashram since 1994, added.
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LK Aswani, a local who has been associated with the ashram since the last 20 years, added that a few decades back, Asaram and his supporters had tried to forcefully occupy a part of the ashram. “In 1999, Asaram’s supporters forcibly tried to take over a part of our ashram in the garb of organising a religious event here. It was only after we put up a stiff resistance that we were able to save the ashram from being occupied by them.”