A godman is a colloquial name for a particular type of charismatic Hindu ascetic who has a high-profile presence, is capable of attracting attention and support from Indian society, and makes claims of spiritual attainments. Godmen sometimes claim to possess paranormal powers, such as clairvoyance, or healing abilities. Very few godmen have allowed observation of their feats under controlled laboratory test conditions, such as Swami Rama's controlling of his heart functions, or simultaneous differential thermal control of a hand.[1]
They are often outside the establishment and may not have taken initiation and associated with that, they tend to live in their own ashrams, instead of that of belonging to a religious order.
Their success comes, often not from the strength of their parampara, but from their personal qualities. They may however assert that they accept authority of a guru. An example of a godman is Sathya Sai Baba.[2][3]
Criticism
The Indian Rationalist Association denounces the purportedly supernatural feats of godmen as “well-packaged gimmickry.”[4] This group performs demonstrations of magic tricks which replicate the effects achieved by godmen, such as walking on coals,[5] producing sacred ash from thin air, exploding stones with "mental power," levitating, or turning water into blood.[6][7]
References
All information in this entry is sourced to James G. Lochtefeld's The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism unless otherwise stated.
- ^ "http://www.swamij.com/pdf/swami-rama-beyond-biofeedback.pdf" (PDF). pp. 12–16. http://www.swamij.com/pdf/swami-rama-beyond-biofeedback.pdf. Retrieved July 24 2007.Elmer Green's description of Swami Rama's alleged psychokinetic demonstration (with illustrations).
- ^ Woodhead, Linda & Fletcher Paul. Religion in the Modern World: Traditions and Transformation. Routledge (UK), ISBN 0-415-21784-9
"By far the most famous Godman of today is Sathya Sai Baba" (p. 29) - ^ Lochtefeld, James G. Ph.D. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism Vol. I ISBN 0-8239-3179-X, entry "Godman" New York Rosen 2002
- ^ Bedi, Rahul. "Rationalists seek to prove holy men's power not so 'divine' after all." The Irish Times. 2009-07-13. Retrieved on August 15, 2009
- ^ "Fire walkers for science." Oelwein Register. 1985-09-14.
- ^ Shenoy, Jaideep. "Tricks revealed." The Hindu. 2003-05-31. Retrieved on August 15, 2009
- ^ Bedi, Rahul. "Rationalists expose miracle men to villagers." New Zealand Herald. 2009-07-14. Retrieved on August 15, 2009
Bibliography
- Brent, Ludwig Godmen of India
- Kovoor, Abraham Dr. Begone Godmen published by Shri Aswin J. Shah Jaico Publishing House, Bombay - 1976
- Singh, Khushwant. (1975) Gurus, godmen, and good people. Bombay: Orient Longman. ISBN 031836672X
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